Sensex ends 185 points higher, Nifty at 11,535; RIL, M&M, ONGC top gainers

After a volatile trading session, Sensex and Nifty ended on a bullish note today led by positive global cues. Extending gains for the second day after 2% drop on Monday, Sensex ended 185 points higher at 39,086 and Nifty gained 64 points to 11,535. Yesterday, Sensex ended 272 points higher at 38,900 and Nifty gained 82 points to close at 11,470.

UltraTech Cement, Adani Ports, Coal India, RIL, ONGC, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, ITC, Reliance Industries and Infosys were among the top gainers. On the other hand, SBI, Bajaj Auto, HDFC, Kotak Bank and Titan were the top laggards today. On the sectoral front, except PSU Banks and financials, all the other indices closed bullish, with over 3.5% gains in media and over 1% gain in metals and IT scrips.

While metal stocks continued gaining momentum on the hope of demand improvement, strong month on month sales gain led auto stocks higher. Meanwhile, IT stocks rose on the back of weak rupee against the dollar today.

S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities said, "The key indices scaled up today as the SC began hearing the loan moratorium today. The 4 wheeler Automotive stocks & Tractor stocks led the charge ably supported by selected pivotal. The encouraging Kharif acreage till the end of August also buoyed sentiments in the Rural stocks as investors sought growth and value in the broader market".

Sensex and Nifty earlier today opened marginally lower today affected by heightened tensions at India's disputed border with China. Mixed cues from European and Asian markets due to rising US-China tensions and key economic data release also kept sentiments muted.

However, market indices saw a sharp recovery in the latter half of the session to close near day's high. On the domestic front, benchmarks turned positive post the news that Indian troops successfully thwarted China's attempts to seize control of Southern Bank of Pangong Tso.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said,"Encouraging US, Chinese and European manufacturing data and also the expectation that US would bring in additional stimulus kept up the buoyancy in the markets. Domestically, investors chose to ignore the border tensions with China which led to the volatility in the opening trades."

On the currency front, Indian rupee that opened on a weak note at 73.10 closed at 73.04, against its last close of 72.86 per dollar.

Rising coronavirus cases also kept gains checked. Worldwide, there were 259 lakh confirmed cases and 8.61 lakh deaths from COVID-19 outbreak. Meanwhile, India's death toll from COVID-19 infections rose to 66,460 and total coronavirus cases rose to 37.69 lakh as of Wednesday

On Nifty's technical indicators, experts suggest the index has to surpass the sturdy wall of resistance near 11,550-11,650. Although, the 50 barometer index has closed well above its support of 11,350 level.

Manish Hathiramani, proprietary index trader and technical analyst, Deen Dayal Investments said,"The Nifty made a smart move towards 11600 but was unable to get past and close above it. We would need that to happen for the uptrend to be solid and convincing. Once we get past that, our target would be 11800-11900."

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