Sensex Surges for Sixth Day; Nifty Ends Above 8,850

The BSE benchmark Sensex surged for sixth consecutive session on Wednesday supported by gains in capital goods, IT and consumer durable stocks.

 

The 50-share Nifty closed above its important psychological level of 8,850 led by buying in heavyweight stocks like HDFC, ICICI Bank and TCS.

 

Investor sentiment was bolstered after Prime Minister Narendra Modi while inaugurating Aero India in Bengaluru said that India will not be the biggest importer of defence equipment hence, giving a message that the upcoming union Budget will focus on reforms to reignite the growth engine.

 

Meanwhile, the mid-cap and small-cap stocks were also in demand on Wednesday. The respective indices closed higher by 1 per cent each.

 

Buying was visible across the board. Capital goods, consumer durable and power stocks were in high demand. However, oil & Gas and metal stocks witnessed a minor selling pressure.

 

Among the individual stocks, ITC traded at its record high of Rs 402 on Wednesday as traders were betting on moderate excise duty hike on cigarettes in the Budget, which is due to be presented on February 28.

 

Ashish Chaturmohta, head technical & derivatives analysis at Fortune Equity Broker told NDTV that ITC has given a breakout after a long phase of consolidation and has potential to go upto levels of Rs 480. 

 

Defence-related stocks like Bharat Forge, Pipavav Defence, L&T and Astra Microwave products rallied after Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised on increasing domestic production of defence equipment.

 

On the other hand, Hero MotoCorp slumped 5.2 per cent to close at Rs 2,658 on reports that its promoters would sell shares worth Rs 1,850 crore.

 

HDFC, Tata Power, HCL Technologies, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, Jindal Steel and Punjab National Bank were the top gainer on the Nifty. While, Sesa Sterlite, DLF, ONGC, Bharti Airtel, Zee Entertainment and NMDC were among the losers. 

 

The overall breadth was positive as 1634 stocks advanced while 1283 declined.

 

The Sensex finally closed at 29,320, up 184 points and the Nifty advanced 60 points to shut shop at 8,869.