Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: With the volatile situation in the war-torn West Asia limping back to near-normalcy and crude oil price hovering around USD 77 per barrel, Indian bourses reacted positively on Wednesday, rising nearly 1 per cent, the media reported.
Benchmark index Sensex jumped over 900 points, closing 790.54 points higher (1.04 per cent) at 76991.22, while Nifty50 closed at 24021.64, gaining 197.55 points (or 0.83 per cent).
The Nifty50 and the Sensex ended sharply higher as IT, realty, bank, and financial stocks advanced.
Equity indices traded sharply higher at mid-day on Wednesday, supported by easing crude oil prices, encouraging comments from Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra on the interest rate trajectory and inflation outlook, and strong buying in heavyweight banking and financial stocks.
Gains in frontline lenders helped offset concerns surrounding the possibility of further US rate hikes and weak monsoon rains.
Despite strong performance in headline indices, however, broader markets underperformed. The Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 0.26 per cent, while the Nifty Midcap 100 slipped 0.01 per cent.
Sectoral performance remained mixed, with banking, financial services, cement and information technology stocks leading the gains. The rally in lenders and financial names provided the biggest support to benchmark indices.
Gainers/losers
Among the Nifty 50 constituents, Trent, IndiGo, ICICI Bank, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories and Bajaj Finance emerged as the top gainers while Bajaj Auto, NTPC, Maruti Suzuki and Wipro were among the major laggards.
Within the midcap space, Exide Industries, AU Small Finance Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services and L&T Finance gained between 3 per cent and 5 per cent. Conversely, GE Vernova T&D, Hitachi Energy India, Swiggy and KEI Industries fell between 2 per cent and 6 per cent.
Market breadth remained slightly negative despite the benchmark rally. Of the 3,231 stocks traded on the NSE, 1,519 advanced, 1,612 declined and 100 remained unchanged.
As many as 86 stocks touched their 52-week highs, while 26 hit fresh 52-week lows. Additionally, 78 stocks were locked in their upper circuits and 64 stocks hit their lower circuit limits, reflecting stock-specific volatility across the broader market.
InterGlobe Aviation, Adani Enterprises, and Trent were the top gainers in the Nifty50 index. In the broader markets, the Nifty MidCap and the Nifty SmallCap settled 0.10 per cent and 0.39 per cent higher, respectively.
Sector-wise, the Nifty IT and the Nifty Realty outperformed with over 2 per cent gain. The Nifty Bank and the Nifty Private Bank also outperformed. Meanwhile, the Nifty Auto and the Nifty Metal declined the most.