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    Bulls in action! RIL, private banks drive Sensex 500 points higher

    Synopsis

    Indian shares surged with BSE Sensex up 500 points. Nifty50 topped 22,150 level. Private bank stocks and index heavyweight RIL lead top gainers.

    BSEReuters
    Despite negative signals from global markets, Indian shares surged in early trade on Wednesday, driven by the strong performance of index heavyweight Reliance Industries and financial stocks.

    The BSE Sensex was trading over 500 points higher at 72,976 around 10.15 am while Nifty50 was above 22,150 mark, up 145 points at the same time.

    Among the Sensex stocks, Maruti Suzuki, and Reliance Industries were the top gainers, rising over 1% each. Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, HUL L&T, and Tata Motors also opened higher, while Wipro, JSW Steel, Infosys, and Nestle India opened lower.

    Central Depository Services (CDSL) shares fell 6.4% amid a report that Standard Chartered Bank sold its entire 7.18% stake in the company via block deals.

    Adani Power rose over 4% after the Competition Commission of India approved the proposed acquisition of 100% equity share capital of Lanco Amarkantak Power.

    Sector-wise, Nifty Oil & Gas rose 1.6%, and Nifty Medis surged 1.3%. Nifty Auto, Bank, Financial, FMCG, Metal, and Realty also surged. Meanwhile, in the broader market, Nifty Smallcap100 and Midcap100 gained 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively.

    Experts View
    "Market is likely to continue in the consolidation mode for a couple of days more and then take a new directional trend starting April. The undertone of the market continues to be bullish supported by strong economic fundamentals," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

    "Midcaps have again become the segment of activity, particularly by retail investors. This is because there is no institutional selling pressure in midcaps unlike in largecaps where institutions including FIIs have large holdings," Vijayakumar said.

    Deven Mehata, Research Analyst at Choice Broking, said, "Nifty can find support at 21,900 followed by 21,850 and 21,800. On the higher side, 22,100 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 22,150 and 22,200."

    Global Markets
    Wall Street equities closed lower overnight, extending losses for the second session in a row. Asian markets declined at the open, with the MSCI ex-Japan shedding 0.2%.

    Hong Kong's Hang Seng and mainland Chinese blue chips each lost about 0.4%, reversing gains from the previous session.

    FII/DII Tracker
    Foreign portfolio investors bought Indian shares worth Rs 10.13 crore on a net basis on Tuesday, while domestic institutional investors bought a net Rs 5,024 crore of stocks.

    Crude Oil
    Crude oil fell for a second day after a report that crude stockpiles surged in the US, the world's biggest oil user, and on signs major producers are unlikely to change their output policy at a technical meeting next week.

    Brent crude futures for May dropped 69 cents, or 0.8%, to $85.56 a barrel. The May contract is set to expire on Thursday and the more actively traded June contract declined 60 cents, or 0.7%, to $85.03.

    U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for May delivery fell 55 cents, or 0.7%, to $81.07.

    Currency Watch
    The Indian rupee fell 5 paise to 83.34 against the US dollar in early trade. The dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against a basket of six major world currencies, surged 0.06% to 104.36 level.

    (With inputs from agencies)


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    (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)

    (What's moving Sensex and Nifty Track latest market news, stock tips, Budget 2024 and expert advice, on ETMarkets. Also, ETMarkets.com is now on Telegram. For fastest news alerts on financial markets, investment strategies and stocks alerts, subscribe to our Telegram feeds .)

    Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the Economic Times ePaper Online.and Sensex Today.

    Top Trending Stocks: SBI Share Price, Axis Bank Share Price, HDFC Bank Share Price, Infosys Share Price, Wipro Share Price, NTPC Share Price

    ...more
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