The market continued its positive momentum and mirrored the upmove in other global markets. Equity benchmark Sensex jumped over 160 points to close at its fresh lifetime peak on Monday, driven by gains in index majors Reliance Industries and Infosys amid strong global cues and unabated foreign capital inflows.
The Sensex was up 166.96 points or 0.29 percent at 58,296.91, and the Nifty was up 54.20 points or 0.31 percent at 17,377.80. About 1,657 shares have advanced, 1589 shares declined, and 165 shares are unchanged. IT and Realty indices rose 1-3 percent at a record high. BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices ended in the green.
Reliance moves higher
Shares of Reliance Industries Ltd continued to move higher on Monday and closed with a gain of nearly 2 per cent after the company said its subsidiary has acquired a majority stake in genomic testing firm Strand Life Sciences Pvt Ltd for Rs 393 crore. The stock jumped 3.83 per cent to its all-time high of Rs 2,479.85 during the day on the BSE. It closed at Rs 2,424.55, a jump of 1.52 per cent. On the NSE, it gained 1.69 per cent to close at Rs 2,429.
In traded volume terms, 6.02 lakh shares were traded at the BSE and over 1.55 crore shares at the NSE during the day
HCL Tech was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 2 per cent, followed by Infosys, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Auto and M&M. On the other hand, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Bank Bank, Power Grid, Sun Pharma and Asian Paints were among the laggards.
Nifty trades in small range
"The Nifty traded in a small range of 50 points today. The view in Nifty remains bullish with levels of 17,450 and 17,500 in the next few trading sessions. Nifty closed at 17,379 up by 55 points. Nifty has support in the 17,280 and 17,250 range. Traders can use buy-on correction with strict stop loss in the current markets", said Gaurav Udani, CEO & Founder, ThincRedBlu Securities.
Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President, Equity Technical Research, Kotak Securities Ltd said, "The Nifty is still maintaining a higher bottom formation which is broadly positive. However, the markets being in an overbought situation could trigger a quick intraday correction if it trades below 17,330 support level. As long as the index is trading above 17,330 the uptrend texture is likely to continue up to 17,450-17,500 levels. On the flip side, if Nifty trades below 17,330, it could trigger an intraday correction up to 17,250-17,210 levels," he said.
A broad-based buying was recorded in the sectoral index as all scrips were on a green note with Prestige Estate surging 16 percent. Alembic's JV Aleor Dermaceuticals received USFDA nod for generic antibacterial gel. Maruti Suzuki India said it has increased prices of its entire product range, except Celerio, by up to 1.9 percent with immediate effect. Caplin Point surged 12 percent and IRCTC jumped 5 percent today. IOC and ONGC were among the top losers in the Nifty50 today.
Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS, Hem Securities said, "On the technical front, the market is witnessing a continuous positive trend and it has sustained well above 17,300-350 levels and we believe this up move will extend till 17500 level in the short term. On the down side 17,100 is the immediate support in Nifty 50 followed by 16,900."
Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, said, "A small negative candle was formed with minor upper and lower shadow. Technically this formation indicate a spinning top type pattern at the highs. Normally, such patterns at the highs/crucial hurdles more often act as a reversal after the confirmations of decline in subsequent sessions. Therefore, any reasonable decline on Tuesday could signal minor downward correction in the market."
