Sensex ends 257 points higher, Nifty at 15,097; NTPC, Axis Bank, ONGC top gainers

Share market indices ended higher on F&O expiry day amid positive global equities. Rising for the third straight session, Sensex ended 257 points higher at 50,039 and Nifty gained 115 points to 15,097.

ONGC, NTPC, RIL, Axis Bank and IndusInd Bank traded are the top gainers on BSE and NSE, while Nestle, L&T, Kotak Bank, Titan and HDFC were among the top losers.

Sectorally, except for financial services and FMCG, all the other indices ended with decent gains. The metal index ended almost 4% higher, while media, realty and PSU Banking indices rose 1.5% each. Traders expected high volatility today on F&O expiry day, as positions rollover from the near month February series to March series.

Yesterday, Sensex rose 1,030 points to end at 50,781 and Nifty zoomed 274.20 points to close at 14,982. Last Tuesday, Sensex hit a record high of 52,516 and Nifty hit a lifetime high of 15,431.

Top gainers today: 5 shares rise up to 5%; ONGC, NTPC, RIL, Axis Bank and IndusInd Bank

Meanwhile, NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 5.2 per cent to 22.89. BSE's market capitalisation stood at Rs 206 lakh crore in today's session.

Market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive with 1782 shares rising, 1,171 shares falling and 175 shares remaining unchanged on BSE.

S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities said, "The day clearly belonged to the NIFTY PSE Index which rose 4% today after the plan announced yesterday to privatise and monetise assets of PSE. The broader market also witnessed keen investor interest in Power stocks"

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said,"Domestic market added strength on yesterday's rally supported by positive F&O monthly roll-over and robust global market. Small and mid-cap stocks continued its outperformance over the benchmark indices. World equity market rebound after getting assurance from central banks, importantly FED, that good liquidity will be maintained, in spite of being under pressure of rising inflation, since the economy is still well below the pre-covid standpoint."

Overseas, European stocks opened higher on Thursday, as global markets jumped following reassuring comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on the inflation outlook. Traders reacted to strong German economic growth which was better than estimate along with corporate earnings.

Tracking overnight gains seen in US markets, Asian stocks were trading higher as investors took comfort from positive news on vaccine efficacy.

US markets bounced back sharply after Federal Reserve Chairman signalled that it is not going to alter monetary policy and reaffirmed his view that the economy needs more support.

On today's movement, Sumeet Bagadia-Executive Director at Choice Broking said, "After a breezy opening with a gain of over 150 points, the benchmark index traded in a narrow range only throughout the trading sessions and finally settled its closing at 15097 levels with a gain of 115 points. Technically, the benchmark index has taken the support of its 20 Days Moving Average which shows a positive trend for the time being and based on which we may see a good spurt during an upcoming trading session. At the present level, Nifty has strong support at 14850 while upside resistance comes at 15260."

Expressing vires on the market outlook, Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking said, "Upbeat global cues combined with strong traction in banking majors triggered a strong start. However, profit-taking at the higher levels capped upside as the day progressed. The broader markets continued to witness healthy buying interest as both midcap and smallcap ended higher by 1.1% and 1.5%. Global cues and upcoming macroeconomic data i.e. GDP data will dictate the trend from hereon. Mostly sectoral indices trading in the tandem with benchmark however we feel banking has the potential to help the index inch further higher. Amid all, we feel it's prudent to wait for further clarity and limit naked leveraged positions."

On Nifty's Technical outlook, Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities said, "One more positive session and index managed to close at 15093 with gains of nearly one per cent & formed a gravestone Doji kind of candle pattern on the daily chart. On the immediate basis, the index has good support near the 15k mark if the index managed to sustain above the 15k mark then-current positive move can extend further towards the 15200-15250 zone which are the hurdle zone on the higher side and if fails to sustain then strong profit booking can be a witness."

In the forex market, the rupee ended 8 paise lower at 72.43 per US dollar on Thursday, weighed down by the spike in global crude oil prices.

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