Sensex ends 130 points higher in choppy trade\, Nifty holds 10\,800 level; banking\, pharma stocks support

Sensex ends 130 points higher in choppy trade, Nifty holds 10,800 level; banking, pharma stocks support

The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was negative as 1,352 shares advanced, against a decline of 1,379 shares, while 200 shares remained unchanged.

The Indian benchmark indices, Sensex, Nifty, ended higher in choppy trade on Tuesday, helped by steady buying across banking and pharma space. The market made a strong recovery in the final hour of trade led by rally in index heavyweights such as Sun Pharma, SBI, Tata Motors, Yes Bank and ICICI Bank.

The BSE Sensex closed up 130.77 points at 35,980.93, while the NSE Nifty settled 30.35 points higher at 10,802.15. In the choppy trade today, the BSE Sensex touched intraday high and low of 36,037.35 and 35,753.95, respectively. The NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 10,818.45 and intraday low of 10,733.25.

Early today, the Sensex and Nifty opened lower as investors turned cautious ahead of December quarter corporate earnings.

The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was negative as 1352 shares advanced, against a decline of 1379 shares, while 200 shares remained unchanged.

Among sectors, banking and pharma index emerging as top gainers, rising as much as 1.31 per cent and 0.98 per cent, respectively. The Bankex index closed at 30,952.41 up by 401.05 points or by 1.31 per cent, helped by strong rally in ICICI Bank.

Shares of ICICI Bank rose over 3 per cent, hitting 52-week high, on the BSE amid spurt in volume trade on hopes of strong performance in October-December quarter. State Bank of India (Rs 305.10, 3.18%), YES Bank (Rs 192.30, 2.86%), City Union Bank (Rs 193.60, 2.16%), Axis Bank (Rs 650.90, 2.11%), were among others gainers across the financial space.

The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were Kotak Mahindra Bank  (Rs 1230.00, down 1.41%), followed by NTPC (Rs 146.95, 0.98%), Housing Development Finance Corporation (Rs 1955.00, 0.81%), HDFC Bank (Rs 2102.85, 0.81%), Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (Rs 1770.60, 0.79%), among others.

Global markets

European markets traded marginally higher on Tuesday, recouping previous session losses, as investors remained cautious about ongoing trade talks between China and the United States. All eyes are on talks in Beijing, where American and Chinese officials are haggling over a trade dispute that threatens to worsen an economic slowdown and put a drag on the global economy.

In Europe, Germany's DAX surged 0.33 percent to 10,779.11, while France's CAC 40 jumped 0.61 percent to 4,747.90. In a similar fashion, Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.54 percent to 6,847.38.

Most Asian shares ended mixed on Tuesday, with Japan's Nikkei rising as much as 0.82 per cent to close at 20,204.04 amid hopes that Washington and Beijing may be inching towards a trade deal and that US Federal Reserve would halt its tightening if economic growth slows further. Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 0.15 percent to settle at 25,875.45, while the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.26 percent to close at 2,526.46.

US Stocks closed higher on Monday with the S&P 500 adding 17.75 points, or 0.7 percent, to settle at 2,549.69. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 98.19 points, or 0.4 percent, to 23,531.35 and the Nasdaq gained 84.61 points, or 1.3 percent, to 6,823.47.

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar