Sensex jumps over 450 points, Nifty above 19,550; Paras Defence, MTAR Tech jump up to 12%; Jio Financial dive 5%

Indian equity benchmarks rose sharply in Thursday's early trade, led by gains across all sectors. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack surged 463 points or 0.71 per cent to trade at 65,897, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 137 points or 0.70 per cent up to trade at 19,581. Mid- and small-cap shares were positive as Nifty Midcap 100 climbed 0.80 per cent and small-cap gained 0.56 per cent.

Chandrayaan-3's successful soft-landing on the moon pulled investor confidence today. "There are many companies which contributed to the success of Chandrayaan-3. A lot of action would be seen in these counters," Avinash Gorakshakar, Director of Research at ProfitMart Securities, told BT TV today.

Also, market participants would be keenly watching the release of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) policy meeting minutes.

"The near-term market outlook has turned distinctly positive and Chandrayaan-3's successful soft-landing on the moon also boosted investor sentiments," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

On the global front, Asian markets were up today following an overnight rise in Wall Street equities. Investors now await comments from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, due on Friday, at a meeting of central bankers at Jackson Hole in Wyoming, for cues on policy tightening.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought Indian shares on a net basis during the previous session, adding Rs 614 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 125 crore, according to provisional National Stock Exchange data.

Aditya Gaggar, Director of Progressive Shares said, "Early indication from the GIFT Nifty indicates that the Nifty50 will give a much-awaited range breakout with the target of 19,640 which is also a critical resistance level. Bank Nifty has already given a congestion breakout and stands at its resistance levels, today's move is likely to push the banking index higher around 45,000. Tracking the American IT Index Nasdaq, we can see some spurt in the IT sector. The PSU Banking sector is set to give an 8-month consolidation breakout, and strong performance can be expected thereafter (Small-sized banks)."

All 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the NSE -- were trading in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty Metal and Nifty IT were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 0.93 per cent, 0.87 per cent, 0.97 per cent and 0.76 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Adani Enterprises was the top gainer in the Nifty pack as the stock jumped 2.44 per cent to trade at Rs 2,592. Adani Ports, UltraTech Cement, IndusInd Bank and L&T gained up to 1.93 per cent.

In contrast, Jio Financial Services, Hindalco, Divi's Labs and Eicher Motors were among the top laggards.

The overall market breadth was positive as 2,146 shares were advancing while 798 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, ICICI Bank, L&T, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Reliance Industries and Axis Bank were among the top gainers.

Also, Paras Defence and Space Technologies, GMR Airports Infrastructure, MTAR Technologies, MapMyIndia, Adani Power, Laxmi Organic Industries, Borosil Renewables and Ipca Labs surged up to 11.62 per cent. On the flipside, Procter & Gamble Health, Rainbow Children's Medicare, Metro Brands, Alok Industries, Linde India and Tanla Platforms slipped up to 3.99 per cent.

On Wednesday, Sensex had climbed 213 points or 0.33 per cent to settle at 65,433, while Nifty had added 48 points or 0.25 per cent to end the session at 19,444.

Nifty outlook

"We are encouraged to extend the upside target to 19,570. As maintained, all through this week, a collapse is not expected right away, but we will reevaluate the prospects of 19,060-18,900 or even 18,600-18,300, if rejection trades re appear once inside the 19,570-19,670 region or on a direct fall back below 19,420," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

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