Stock markets settle with gains; logs 4th day of rally

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended in the green on Thursday, climbing for the fourth straight day, amid fresh foreign fund inflows and intense buying in IT and telecom stocks.

Buying in index majors Infosys and Reliance Industries added to the optimism in the equity market.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 348.80 points or 0.58% to settle at 60,649.38. During the day, it jumped 397.73 points or 0.65% to 60,698.31.

The broader NSE Nifty advanced 101.45 points or 0.57% to end at 17,915.05.

“Market traded firm on the monthly expiry day and gained over half a%. After the flat start, the Nifty index gradually inched northward and finally settled around the day’s high to close at 17,915.05 levels. The majority of sectors contributed to the move wherein realty, IT and auto were the top gainers,” said Ajit Mishra, VP – Technical Research, Religare Broking Ltd.

From the Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, ITC, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Titan, Reliance Industries and Nestle were the major winners.

Hindustan Unilever, Power Grid, Axis Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, State Bank of India, Asian Paints and Wipro were the laggards.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Japan, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the green.

Equity markets in Europe were trading in the positive territory. The US markets had ended mostly lower on Wednesday.

“The domestic market is gradually shifting towards a positive terrain, supported by FIIs inflows and positive Q4 earnings from banks. On the global front, the US Q1 GDP number which will be unveiled today is anticipated to moderate on a QoQ basis amid concerns over banking contagion and a slowing economy.

“The next week’s FED policy will be keenly monitored,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge climbed 0.62% and midcap index rallied 0.52%.

Among indices, realty jumped 1.57%, telecommunication climbed 1.16%, IT (1.15%), teck (1.01%), auto (0.83%), metal (0.80%) and capital goods (0.72%).

Power emerged as the only laggard.

The BSE benchmark climbed 169.87 points or 0.28% to settle at 60,300.58 on Wednesday. The Nifty advanced 44.35 points or 0.25% to end at 17,813.60.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude advanced 0.40% to $78.07 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Wednesday as they bought equities worth ₹1,257.48 crore, according to exchange data.