Sensex rises over 150 points; Nifty trades above 19,550; Morepen Labs, Zen Tech & DB Realty jump up to 14%

Indian equity benchmarks traded higher in Monday's trade, led by gains in automobile, financials and pharma stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack rose 151 points or 0.23 per cent to trade at 65,872, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 44 points or 0.23 per cent up to trade at 19,561. Mid- and small-cap shares were positive as Nifty Midcap 100 climbed 0.11 per cent and small-cap gained 0.49 per cent.

On the global front, Asian equities were subdued. Back home, investors would be keenly watching Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) policy decision, scheduled to be announced on Thursday. The Reserve Bank kept repo rate unchanged in April and June, after hiking them by 250 basis points (bps) in the fiscal 2023.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers of Indian shares for six sessions in a row. FIIs sold Rs 556.32 crore worth of shares on a net basis during the previous session, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought Rs 366.61 crore of equities, as per provisional NSE data.

"While markets may display volatility due to sharp fluctuations in global equities and RBI's credit policy announcement this week, FII trend in domestic equities too could be choppy in the near term, especially due to rising US bond yield and dollar's upward march. In case the US bond yields continue to rise, FIIs may look to shun local equities. However, with India's macroeconomic numbers remaining impressive so far, and Morgan Stanley upgrading India to overweight last week, it would be difficult for overseas investors to ignore India in spite of higher valuation concerns," said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Research (Retail) at Kotak Securities.

10 out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- were trading in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty Auto, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Pharma were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 0.50 per cent, 0.39 per cent and 1.09 per cent, respectively.

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On the stock-specific front, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) was the top gainer in the Nifty pack as the stock jumped 3.29 per cent to trade at Rs 1,512.85. Divi's Labs, Sun Pharma, Grasim Industries and NTPC gained up to 2.87 per cent.

In contrast, Britannia, Nestle India, Titan, Bajaj Finance and BPCL were among the top laggards.

The overall market breadth was positive as 2,022 shares were advancing while 1,335 were declining on BSE.

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

Also, Morepen Labs, Zen Technologies and DB Realty surged up to 13.69 per cent. In contrast, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, TD Power Systems, Meghmani Finechem and Gujarat Ambuja Exports slipped up to 7.66 per cent.

On Friday, Sensex had surged 481 points or 0.74 per cent to settle at 65,721.25, while Nifty moved 135 points or 0.70 per cent higher to close at 19,517.

Nifty outlook

 

"Ideally, the ongoing relief rallies should aim for 19,740s again. However, as maintained on Friday, the prospects of a regrouping of bears are also equally likely if not higher. Yet, we are inclined to stick with upswings, with an eye on 19,600-19,620-19,670, from where distribution is likely to resurface. Once clear of these points, the 20,600 trajectories would be clearer. Alternatively, inability to float above 19,490 early in the day, could require consolidation deep down near 19,450-19,415, before re attempting upsides, but a direct fall below 19,380, while not expected, will tilt the bias decidedly in favour of bears," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

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