Sensex, Nifty rise for second day on gains in RIL, IT stocks

PTI

Mumbai, May 22

Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty rallied for a second straight session on Monday following buying in index heavyweight Reliance Industries and IT stocks amid optimism in Asian markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 234 points or 0.38 per cent to settle at 61,963.68 as 19 of its components closed in green. During the day, it jumped 314.78 points or 0.50 per cent to a high of 62,044.46.

The broader NSE Nifty rallied 111 points or 0.61 per cent to end at 18,314.40 with 34 of its constituents closing with gains and 15 closing lower while one settled unchanged.

Among the Sensex firms, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies, Larsen & Toubro, ITC, Sun Pharma, NTPC and Titan were the major gainers.

Nestle, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Bharti Airtel were the laggards.

All the ten listed Adani group stocks ended with significant gains as a Supreme Court-appointed expert committee said it has found no evidence of stock price manipulation in group companies, while a separate Sebi probe into alleged violation in money flows from offshore entities has “drawn a blank”.

Adani Enterprises zoomed 18.84 per cent and Adani Wilmar jumped 10 per cent, the biggest gainers among the ten listed group firms.

“The domestic market inched higher in anticipation of possible progress in US debt ceiling negotiations. Despite a weak fourth-quarter performance, IT stocks rebounded on account of bargain opportunities and pent-up demand,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Investors remain watchful ahead of the release of US FOMC minutes on Wednesday, as the minutes may give some indication of a pause on rate hikes, Nair added.

“Nifty opened flat but gradually recovered to close with gains of 111 points. The market has resumed its upward journey after taking a pause last week,” said Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.73 per cent and smallcap index gained 0.41 per cent.

Among the indices, services jumped 2.48 per cent, IT rallied 2.15 per cent, teck (1.69 per cent), commodities (1.47 per cent), utilities (1.27 per cent), healthcare (1.20 per cent) and oil & gas (0.97 per cent).

Financial Services, telecommunication and bankex were the laggards.

“The benchmark indices experienced a significant rebound. This was accompanied by strong buying momentum in Adani stocks, supported by the performance of IT stocks,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.03 per cent to USD 75.60 per barrel.

The rupee declined by 18 paise to 82.85 amid uncertainty over US debt ceiling negotiations and dollar demand from importers.

Analysts said the near-term uncertainty in the global equity markets is likely to continue since there is no resolution yet on the US debt ceiling issue. A strong rally will happen only after this impasse is out of the way.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 113.46 crore on Friday after remaining buyers for a number of days, according to exchange data.

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