Sensex Gains 147 pts, Nifty Settles Above 17,500 Amid Volatility; Rupee Hits Record Low of 83/$

Sensex Today: Indian shares edged up on Wednesday, helped by a drop in oil prices and tracking gains in other Asian equities following the overnight rally in Wall Street on strong corporate reports. The S&P BSE Sensex closed at 59,107, up 147 points or 0.25 per cent, extending its rally into fourth day. It hit an intra-day high of 59,400.

The Nifty50, meanwhile, ended at 17,512, up 25 points or 0.14 per cent. It hit an intra-day high of 176,608.

HDFC, Nestle India, ITC, RIL, Axis Bank, and Ultratech Cement were the top gainers, while Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, SBI, HCL Tech, Infosys, and Maruti Suzuki were the top laggards.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index gained 0.13 per cent, while the BSE SmallCap index dipped 0.03 per cent. Sectorally, the Nifty IT, and Metal indices fell up to 1 per cent, while the Nifty Oil & Gas index added 0.57 per cent.

V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said: “There are two factors supporting the ongoing rally in the market: One, support from the mother market US aided by some excellent quarterly results and two, FII selling getting completely overwhelmed by DII buying. DIIs bought stocks for Rs 5290 crores in the cash market during the last 3 trading days against FII selling of Rs 1536 crores. This complete dominance of DIIs over FIIs is triggering short covering too.”

“Good Q2 results are imparting resilience in segments like IT and financials. The festive mood is another positive. However, high global inflation and tightening central banks pose headwinds to the rally,” he added.

Asian shares were mostly higher on Wednesday, with U.S. corporate earnings aiding sentiment, while traders awaited British inflation readings later in the day for clues on how hawkish central banks need to be to fight inflation.

Tokyo shares opened higher Wednesday after robust US corporate earnings helped global shares advance. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 0.35 per cent, or 95.56 points, to 27,251.70 in early trade, while the broader Topix index edged up 0.12 per cent, or 2.31 points, to 1,903.75.

US stocks closed higher for a second straight day on Tuesday as solid quarterly results from Goldman Sachs and Lockheed Martin lessened worries of a weak earnings season.

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