Indian equity benchmarks recovered from initial losses and extended gains in afternoon trades, led by the rise of index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries, Infosys, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC Bank before November futures and options expire monthly. Sensex rallied to 664 points and the Nifty 50 index hit an intraday high of 17,540.80 after hitting a low of 17,351.70.
As of 1:23 pm, the Sensex was up 420 points at 58,761 and the Nifty 50 index was up 108 points to 17,523.
“Our research suggests that the 16,700-17,000 level could act as a key support level in the market. If the market sustains above the 16,700 support level, we can expect it to trade around the range. 16,700-17,500,” Likhita said. Senior research analyst at Capitalvia Global Research.
Eight of the 15 industry gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower, led by a nearly 1% drop in the Nifty Auto index. Indices of Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Metal, PSU Bank and Private Bank also fell about 0.5%.
On the other hand, the Nifty Oil & Gas index was the top industry gainer, up 1.4%. Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, Media, IT and Realty have seen buying interest.
Mid-cap and small-cap stocks traded volatile as the Nifty Midcap 100 index gained 0.1% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index gained 0.2%.
Reliance Industries is Nifty’s top gainer, shares jumped as much as 6% to hit an intraday high of Rs 2,495.95 after its Board of Directors decided to make an arrangement to move Gasification Underground into a wholly owned subsidiary.
Divi’s Labs, Infosys, ITC, Dr Reddy’s Labs, UPL, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Tata Consumer Products and Cipla also increased by 0.5-1%.
In contrast, NTPC, Indian Oil, ICICI Bank, Britannia Industries, Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paint, Hindalco, Axis Bank and IndusInd Bank were among those that fell.
Market breadth was quite positive with 1,934 shares gaining while 1,256 shares declined on the BSE.
