Sensex, Nifty Extend Gains For Fourth Straight Session

New Delhi: The Indian equity benchmarks continued to surge on Wednesday after a cautious start led by gains in banking and financial stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 367 points or 0.61 per cent to close at 60,223, while the broader NSE Nifty settled 120 points or 0.67 per cent higher at 17,925. Both indexes notched their fourth consecutive session of gains.

Mid- and small-cap shares finished on a mixed note as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.15 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index fell 0.25 per cent.

"Traders are more hopeful with the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) decision to keep the reverse repo rate unchanged in the next policy amid an increase of coronavirus cases in India. The Indian market is gaining strength as a result of the Federal Reserve's hawkish move to enhance economic growth," Gaurav Garg, Head of Research, Capitalvia Global Research Ltd told NDTV.

"Our research suggests that 60,000 (Sensex) may act as an important psychological level in the market. Sustaining above this level can leads to a higher level of 60,500. Technical indicators also support positivity in the market," he added.

"Markets have crossed a significant barrier of 17,800 and managed to close above the same. I believe from an uncertain or volatile environment Nifty is now headed for a directional move. We expect 19,000-19,500 levels in the medium term. Overall participation is expected to take place. Value is seen in metals, energy, FMCG, and banking stocks. IT stocks can be bought on correction post recent run-up," Sahaj Agrawal, Head of Research - Derivatives at Kotak Securities, said.

10 out of 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- settled in green. Nifty Bank, Nifty Private Bank, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty PSU Bank rallied as much as 2.32 per cent.

On the stock-specific front, Bajaj Finserv was the top Nifty gainer as the stock surged 4.95 per cent to Rs 17,983.30. Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, JSW Steel and Grasim were also among the gainers.

On the flipside, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Tech, Divi's Lab and Wipro were among the losers.

On the BSE platform, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank and Asian Paints attracted the most gains with their shares rising as much as 3.45 per cent in afternoon trade.

PowerGrid, Dr Reddy's NTPC, TCS and Titan were among the laggards.

The overall market breadth stood positive as 1,840 shares advanced while 1,542 declined on BSE.