Mkts rise for fifth day in a row on banking, metal stocks surge

Mumbai: Rising for the fifth straight session, equity benchmark Sensex rallied nearly 500 points to reclaim the 74,000 mark, while the Nifty closed above the 22,550 level on Thursday due to heavy buying in banking, financial and metal stocks. Recovering after a sell-off in early trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 486.50 points or 0.66 per cent to settle at 74,339.44. During the day, it surged 718.31 points or 0.97 per cent to 74,571.25. The NSE Nifty advanced 167.95 points or 0.75 per cent to 22,570.35.

“Indian benchmark indices opened on a weak note today, but the markets gained strength in the second half to end in the green for a fifth consecutive session. The weak opening can be attributed to negative cues from Asian peers. Buying in the second half came in select banks and FMCG stocks like Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and Nestle,” said Avdhut Bagkar, Technical and Derivatives Analyst, StoxBox.

“Further, the RBI’s regulatory ecosystem on private banks led the PSU banks to outperform. The global market largely traded on a mixed note and is now focused on earning reports, with initial reports suggesting a disappointing outlook for technology stocks, which led to the US yield inching higher,” said Vinod Nair, head (research), Geojit Financial Services.

“The market breadth was strong, with oil prices correcting due to easing conflict in the Middle East and weakening US demand. The domestic broader market was buoyed by the PMI data, with an improvement in discretionary spending,” adds Nair.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.71 per cent and smallcap advanced 0.54 per cent. Among the indices, services advanced 1.71 per cent, metal (1.16 per cent), healthcare (0.97 per cent), power (0.94 per cent) and energy (0.87 per cent). Consumer durables and realty were the laggards.

From the Sensex basket, Axis Bank jumped six per cent after the company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs7,599 crore during the March 2024 quarter. State Bank of India, NTPC, Nestle, Sun Pharma, JSW Steel, ITC, Mahindra & Mahindra and HCL Technologies were among the other major gainers. Hindustan Unilever, Titan, Bajaj Finance, Maruti and Asian Paints were among the laggards.

Kotak Mahindra Bank tanked 10.85 per cent after the RBI barred the company from onboarding customers online and issuing credit cards. Cracking down on repeated non-compliance with IT norms, the RBI on Wednesday barred Kotak Mahindra Bank from onboarding new customers through its online and mobile banking channels and issuing fresh credit cards with immediate effect after the regulator found ‘serious deficiencies’ in the lender’s IT risk management. FMCG major Nestle India on Thursday reported a 27 per cent increase in net profit at Rs934 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2024,