Indian benchmark indices started well on Thursday, with buying in the PSU bank and financial services sector in spite of divergent global cues. At close to 9:45 AM, the Sensex went up by 244.25 points, or 0.32%, to 76,415.33. The Nifty, however, increased by 79.25 points, or 0.34%, to 23,124.50.
On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 1,528 stocks were in the positive and 781 stocks were in the negative. The Nifty Bank index was up by 85.65 points, or 0.17%, at 49,565.10. The Nifty Midcap 100 index was up by 35.55 points, or 0.07%, at 50,791.95, whereas the Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined by 37.75 points, or 0.24%, to 15,995.25.
The largest gainers in the Sensex group were Zomato, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Sun Pharma, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, ITC, Infosys, Tata Steel, SBI, and ICICI Bank. The largest losers, however, were Titan, Tech Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever, IndusInd Bank, and NTPC.
In the previous day’s trading session, the Dow Jones fell 0.50% to a close of 44,368.56, while the S&P 500 fell 0.27% to 6,051.97. However, the Nasdaq managed a gain of 0.03% to 19,649.95.
Jakarta and China fell in the Asian market, but Seoul, Bangkok, Japan, and Hong Kong were on the upswings.
In terms of institutional action, FIIs kept selling equities on February 12 by shedding shares amounting to ₹4,969.30 crore. On the other hand, DIIs provided support to the markets by purchasing equities amounting to ₹5,929.24 crore on the said date.
Indian equity markets had a volatile Wednesday session with a steep rally from an intra-day low of 22,798 that topped early losses and led to a modest rebound for the Nifty.
“Technically, 22,900-22,800 is a support zone that appears to act as such. Any further correction would be bothering the short-term technical setup, while 23,250-23,350 would likely serve as an interim resistance zone with key hurdles at the levels around the 23,400-23,500 subzones,” opined Sameet Chavan, Head of Research, Technical and Derivative at Angel One.
Under the current market scenario, traders are advised to exercise caution and wait for confirmation of price action in key levels before opening fresh positions, Choice Broking’s Aakash Shah suggested.
