Sensex, Nifty Gain For Third Session In A Row Led By Pharma, IT Shares
Sensex, Nifty rose for third straight day Sensex, Nifty have fallen 5.5% and 7.1% respectively from record highs Sensex ended 28 points or 0.06% higher at 48,832
The Indian equity benchmarks advanced for third session in a row on Friday paced by gains in information technology, pharma and auto shares. However, the upside for benchmarks was capped as banking and financial services shares succumbed to selling pressure. During the day, the benchmarks traded in a rangebound manner wherein the Sensex traded in a range of 395 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 14,697.70 and low of 14,559.
The Sensex ended 28 points or 0.06 per cent higher at 48,832 and Nifty 50 index advanced 36 points or 0.25 per cent to close at 14,618.
"Nifty's breakout above the resistance level of 14,500 is positive from a short-term perspective. Momentum indicators like relative strength index (RSI) and moving averages convergence divergence (MACD) indicate upmove to continue in the short-term wherein Nifty can test levels of 14,900," Ashis Biswas, head of technical research at CapitalVia Global Research told NDTV.
The Nifty 50 and the Sensex have fallen 5.5 per cent and 7.1 per cent, respectively, since hitting record highs in February, as a severe second wave of COVID-19 cases has threatened to derail a nascent economic recovery.
Six of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty Pharma index's nearly 2 per cent gain. Nifty Media, IT and Auto indices also rose between 1-2 per cent.
On the other hand, Nifty Bank Financial Services, Private Bank, PSU Bank and Realty sector gauges ended lower.
Mid- and small-cap shares outperformed their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.8 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index climbed 1.03 per cent.
Wipro was top Nifty gainer, the stock rallied over 9 per cent to hit an all-time high 473.65 on the National Stock Exchange after it reported better-than-anticipated March quarter earnings. he company post market hours on Thursday reported that its net profit rose 27.8 per cent annually to Rs 2,970 crore on the back of revenue of Rs 16,250 crore. Analysts on an average were expecting the company to report net profit of Rs 2,897 crore.
Hindalco, Cipla, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, HCL Technologies, Bharat Petroleum, ONGC, Sun Pharma, Nestle India, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors also rose between 2-4 per cent.
On the flipside, JSW Steel, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Steel, TCS, Infosys, State Bank of India, Reliance Industries, HDFC Life and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the losers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,663 shares ended higher while 1,239 closed lower on the BSE.
(With inputs from Reuters)