The Indian equity benchmark ended higher for the second consecutive day on March 17 amid buying in the IT, metal, realty and financial names.
At close, the Sensex was up 355.06 points or 0.62 percent at 57,989.90, while the Nifty was up 114.40 points or 0.67 percent at 17,100.
Amid positive global cues, the market started a gap-up on the final day of the week and remained positive; however, it witnessed some profit booking in mid-session. Eventually, the market managed to close with handsome gains.
For the week, BSE Sensex and Nifty lost nearly 2 percent.
"Following the sharp rebound in the global markets, the domestic indices took a breather in hopes of relief from the global banking turmoil. Global equities reversed their selling streak on reports of a rescue package for the beleaguered First Republic Bank, along with an aid provided to Credit Suisse from the Swiss Central Bank, which would soothe concerns over the global financial stability," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
"On the other hand, the ECB further raised its rates by 50 bps, indicating its preparedness to provide liquidity to banks upon necessity," he added.
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Stocks and sectors
| Index | Prices | Change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 57,989.90 | 355.06 | +0.62% | |
| Nifty 50 | 17,100.05 | 114.45 | +0.67% |
| Nifty Bank | 39,598.10 | 465.50 | +1.19% |
| Biggest Gainer | Prices | Change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|
| HCL Tech | 1,108.45 | 36.05 | +3.36% |
| Biggest Loser | Prices | Change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eicher Motors | 2,974.60 | -60.85 | -2.00% |
| Best Sector | Prices | Change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nifty Metal | 5602.60 | 130.85 | +2.39% |
| Worst Sector | Prices | Change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nifty Pharma | 11676.20 | -67.00 | -0.57% |
HCL Technologies, Hindalco Industries, UPL, UltraTech Cement and Nestle India were among the biggest gainers on the Nifty, while losers included Eicher Motors, NTPC, Maruti Suzuki, ITC and Asian Paints.
Barring auto and FMCG, all other sectoral indices ended in the green with realty index up 3 percent, metal up 2.4 percent, while bank and information technology indices up 1 percent each.
The BSE midcap gained 0.3 percent while the smallcap index added 0.7 percent.
3I Infotech, Aarti Drugs, Uflex, Take Solutions, Shaily Engineering Plastics, Rolta, Pfizer, Hubtown, Educomp Solutions, and Century Plyboards, were among more than 200 stocks that touched their 52-week low on the BSE.
Among individual stocks, a volume spike of more than 200 percent was seen in Biocon, Nalco and NTPC.
A long build-up was seen in Aditya Birla Capital, SAIL and DLF, while a short build-up was seen in Biocon, India Cements and Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services.
Outlook for March 20
Jatin Gedia, Technical Research Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas
The Nifty witnessed a volatile day of trade today. It witnessed sharp swings in both directions and ultimately closed in the green for the second consecutive day. On the way up, the 40-hour moving average and the hourly upper Bollinger band placed in the range 17,150 – 17,200 acted as a strong resistance and restricted further upside and on the way down the swing low formed at 16,850 shall act as a crucial support from short term perspective.
We expect the Nifty to consolidate between these two parameters in the next few trading sessions. We believe that the pullback rally has some more steam left and the Nifty is likely to carry on this positive momentum next week as well.
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