MUMBAI: Indian equity benchmarks ended a choppy session on a positive note on Thursday, as traders squared off positions on July F&O series settlement. Losses in oil & gas and pharma stocks were offset by gains in banks and auto stocks.
Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex ended at 17,992, up 34.63 points or 0.19 per cent. The index touched a high of 18,013.10 and low of 17,902.84 intraday.
National Stock Exchange’s Nifty closed at 5408.90, up 11.35 points or 0.21 per cent. The broader index hit a high of 5415.85 and low of 5381.55 during the session.
“We don’t expect huge volatility in the market for next 5-7 trading sessions. Nifty is likely to be range bound between 5300 and 5520. Traders should be stock-specific at current levels.
Traders can initiate long positions in Power Grid Corporation, Cairn India, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors and Idea Cellular. They can go short on Punj Lloyd and IVRCL Infra,” said Ashish Chaturmohta, AVP, Anand Rathi Securities.
The BSE Midcap Index gained 0.22 per cent while BSE Smallcap Index moved lower by 0.17 per cent.
Amongst sector indices, BSE Oil&Gas Index slipped 0.76 per cent and BSE Healthcare Index declined 0.24 per cent. BSE Bankex moved up 0.92 per cent and BSE Auto Index advanced 0.49 per cent.
IDFC (2.60%), HDFC (2.26%), ICICI Bank (2.22%), Hindalco Industries (2.21%), and Cairn India (2.10%) were amongst the top Nifty gainers.
Losers included Suzlon Energy (-2.92%), Reliance Communications (-2.52%), Sun Pharma (-2.35%), Reliance Power (-1.77%) and Bharti Airtel (-1.65%).
Market breadth was negative on the NSE with 1,616 declines against 1,579 advances.
Meanwhile, European markets were in the green on the back of positive earnings report. Wall Street is also likely to open higher. At 4:20 pm IST, Dow Jones futures was up 0.46 per cent, Nasdaq was up 0.39 per cent and S&P 500 advanced 0.55 per cent. |