Indian Equity Benchmarks Extend Winning Streak To Second Day
Indian equity benchmarks ended in green on Thursday on the back of strong buying in IT, metals, and realty stocks. However, investors exercised caution as European indices showed weakness and oil prices surged to a three-week high after the OPEC+ group’s large supply cut on Wednesday.
Investors also considered Mary Daly’s statement, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. On Wednesday, Daly said that the Federal Reserve needs to keep raising its benchmark interest rate to cool inflation.
At close, the Sensex was up 156.63 points or 0.27 per cent at 58,222.10, while its broader peer, the Nifty, was up 57.50 points or 0.33 per cent at 17,331.80.
On the Nifty, JSW Steel, Hindalco Industries, Coal India, Tata Steel and Larsen and Toubro were among the top Nifty gainers. While Bharti Airtel, HUL, HDFC, IndusInd Bank and Britannia Industries were the top losers.
Among sectors, FMCG and pharma ended marginally lower, while metal, realty and capital goods were up 2-3 per cent.
The yield on benchmark 10-year bonds surged as much as 12 basis points to 7.48 per cent, the highest since June. Indian bonds tumbled as JPMorgan Chase & Co. refrained from adding local government bonds to its emerging markets debt index.
The Indian rupee also ended lower, close to its record low. The rupee closed at 81.89 against the US dollar.
“Weakness in European indices and SGX Nifty slipping into the red prompted investors to cut their bullish bets. But key domestic benchmarks still ended in the green thanks to traders betting big on IT, metals, and realty stocks. However, the inflationary concerns worldwide and central banks hiking interest rates persistently has spooked markets and kept investors on tenterhooks on worries of a global slowdown,” said Srikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities.
Asian stocks had a mixed day but most of the indices made gains as investors wait for the US jobs data expected on Friday.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers as they bought shares worth Rs 1,344.63 crore on Tuesday, according to data available with BSE.
On the technical outlook, Chouhan said that the Nifty has formed a small bearish candle, which is indicating temporary weakness.
"However, the medium-term sentiment is still bullish. A fresh uptrend is possible only after the breakout of 17,425 level and above the same, the index could hit 17,500-17,550 levels. On the flip side, below 17,425 the index could slip till 17,200-17,150," Chouhan added.
