Sensex rises 235 points, Nifty tops 17,800; National Fertilizers, Sula Vineyards & Divis Labs jump up to 13%

The party of bulls continued at Dalal Street as domestic equity indices settled with gains for a straight eighth session on Wednesday. Headline peers settled with gains amid the positive global and domestic cues as the earning season for the quarter kicks off.

Traders keenly awaited the key inflation data from the US, which would signal about the US Fed's rate hike path. Investors in India also awaited the domestic CPI and IIP data post-market which is a key factor to determine the magnitude of rate hikes by the central bank.

For the day, BSE's 30-share pack Sensex rose 235.05 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 60,392.77, while NSE's Nifty50 gained 90.10 points, or 0.51 per cent, to settle at 17,812.40. In the broader markets, BSE midcap and smallcap indices added half a per cent each. Fear gauge India VIX spiked more than 2 per cent to 12.27-levels.

Nifty remained volatile during the day, with a predominately bullish bias. On the daily chart, the index has remained above the channel breakout, suggesting a positive reversal, said Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities.

"The daily momentum indicator RSI is in bullish crossover and rising. The market will remain a buy on dips as long as the index remains above 17,700. On the higher end, the rally may extend towards 17,900-17,970," he said.

On a sectoral front, Nifty Pharma and Healthcare indices topped the gains, rising over 2 per cent each. IT index was up by a per cent, followed by Auto and Financial Services indies. Among the losers, only Nifty PSU Bank, Media and FMCG indices settled lower.

In the Nifty 50 pack, Divis Labs topped among the gainers as the drug maker rose 10 per cent over the export rise buzz. Bajaj Auto and Adani Enterprises added 3 per cent, each, whereas Eicher Motors, Dr Reddy's Labs and Coal India added 2 per cent, each, during the session.

Among the losers, Power Grid shed 2 per cent, followed by a per cent decline in NTPC and Nestle India each. Ultratech Cement, Hindustan Unilever, ONG, State Bank of India and UPL were among the other top losers.

The domestic market exhibited cautiousness in anticipation of the release of various economic data and the upcoming Q4 earnings season, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

"The IT sector drove the optimism in the market as investors await the earnings releases of sector majors. Despite expectations of a cooling down of CPI inflation to below the RBI's upper tolerance level, the persistence of sticky core inflation remains a concern," he said.

A total of 3,615 shares were traded on BSE on Wednesday, of which 2,085 settled with gains. 1,414 stocks ended the session lower, while 116 shares remained unchanged. A total of 299 shares hit their upper circuit, whereas 102 tested the lower circuit levels for the day.

In the broader markets, National Fertilizers surged over 13 per cent, while Sula Vineyards soared 10 per cent after the company provided strong updates for the March 2023 quarter. IFB Agro jumped 9 per cent, while SIS and Laurus Labs gained 7 per cent each for the day.

On the contrary, Nucleus Software Exports tanked more than 5 per cent, while Jindal Stainless also settled 5 per cent lower. Eureka Forbes and Blue Dart Express dropped 4 per cent, each, as the latter one lost its largecap status. Shilpa Medicare declined 3 per cent on the back of profit booking.

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