Taking Stock | A happy Friday for market; Sensex zooms 900 points, Nifty closes in on 17,600

The Indian equity benchmarks wiped out the previous session’s losses to end higher on March 3, as the Sensex closed up 899.62 points, or 1.53 percent, at 59,808.97, and the Nifty gained 272.40 points, or 1.57 percent, at 17,594.30.

After a firm start, the market extended gains as the day progressed amid buying in Adani group stocks after US-based GQG Partners invested Rs 15,446 crore in group companies. As its stocks rallied,  the market capitalisation of the Adani group rose by around Rs 68,000 crore.

For the week, the Sensex and the Nifty added 0.5 percent each.

Also Read: Services see a robust growth in February, PMI at 12-year high of 59.4

Stocks and Sectors

Top gainers on the Nifty included Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, SBI, Bharti Airtel and SBI Life Insurance, while losers were Tech Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Cipla, Divis Labs and Asian Paints.

All sectoral indices ended in the green, with the Nifty PSU nank index gaining 5.4 percent, metal 3.5 percent and bank 2 percent. FMCG, energy and infra indices were up a percent each.

The BSE midcap and smallcap indices added 0.5 percent each. On the BSE, the bank index rose 2 percent, while FMCG, metal, oil & gas, power and realty were up a percent each.

Also Read: Adani Group firms soar as US-based GQG Partners invests Rs 15,446 crore in portfolio companies

Jindal Stainless, Jindal Stainless (Hisar), Finolex Cables, ION Exchange, Imagicaaworld Entertainment, Equitas Small Finance Bank and Cigniti Technologies touched their 52-week high on the BSE.

Relaxo Footwears, Page Industries, Muthoot Finance, Laurus Labs, Jet Airways, Ipca Laboratories and Cipla, Bayer Cropscience slipped to their 52-week lows.

Among individual stocks, a volume spike of more than 100 percent was seen in Godrej Properties, Gail India and United Spirits.

A long build-up was seen in Adani Enterprises, Canara Bank and Vedanta, while a short build-up was seen in Shree Cement, Tech Mahindra and Bosch.

Also Read – TGIF! Fed, Adani-GQG deal and strong economic data fuel Friday rally on D-Street

Outlook for March 6

Amol Athawale, Deputy Vice President-Technical Research, Kotak Securities

Indian markets reacted to strong global cues that triggered a massive bout of short-covering in key sectors.

Technically, the Nifty formed a double bottom near the 200-day simple moving average (SMA) and bounced back sharply.

The index has also formed a promising bullish candle on daily and weekly charts, which supports further uptrend.

As long as the index trades above 17,400, the uptrend is likely to continue.

The Bank Nifty successfully cleared the 20-day SMA, which is broadly positive. For the banking index, 41,000 or 20-day SMA could be the immediate support zone above which, it can move to 41,700-42,300.

For short-term traders, 17,550-17,500 will be the immediate support and 17,700-17,850 the crucial resistance.

Jatin Gedia, Technical Research Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas

The Nifty opened gap up and continued to inch higher throughout the day to end with handsome gains.

On the daily charts, the Nifty is in a pullback mode and retraced 38.2% of the fall from 18,134 to 17,255.

We believe that there is more steam left to this pullback rally and the index can rise to 17,700 where resistance in the form of the 50% Fibonacci retracement level (17,695) and the 20-day moving average (17,703) is placed.

Considering the sharp upmove, a consolidation cannot be ruled out. Overall, the Nifty will likely trade in the 17,700- 17,200 range in the short term.

Ajit Mishra, VP-Technical Research, Religare Broking

The rebound can be attributed to the recovery in the US as we are mirroring global markets. The trend is expected to continue.

On the index front, the Nifty has surpassed the hurdle of the long-term moving average i.e. 200 EMA but sustainability would be critical.

We reiterate our view to focus on stock selection and overnight risk management.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by experts on Moneycontrol are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.