Sensex jumps 550 points; investors pocket ₹4 lakh crore— 10 key highlights of Indian stock market today

Extending their winning streak to the fifth consecutive session, key equity indices- the Sensex and the Nifty 50- ended with healthy gains on Friday, March 21, with banking and financial heavyweights among top gainers.

The Sensex ended the day at 76,905.51, up 557 points, or 0.73 per cent, while the Nifty 50 settled with a gain of 160 points, or 0.69 per cent, at 23,350.40.

The mid and small-cap segments saw even fatter gains. The BSE Midcap index rose 1.14 per cent, while the Smallcap index jumped 2.05 per cent.

The overall market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms jumped to ₹413 lakh crore from nearly ₹409 lakh crore in the previous session, making investors richer by about ₹4 lakh crore in a single session.

Stock market today: 10 key highlights

Here are 10 key highlights of the Indian stock market today:

1. What drove the Indian stock market higher today?

For this week, the Nifty 50 has jumped over 4 per cent on optimism over improving economic indicators, valuation comfort, a fall in the dollar index and the emerging signs of foreign investors slowly starting to buy Indian equities.

"The domestic market has concluded the week with consistent recovery. The anticipated reduction in risk-free rates, coupled with the correction in the dollar index, is facilitating fund flows back to EMs. FIIs, whose selling activity has been waning, are becoming net buyers, driven by dovish signals from the U.S. Fed, which suggest the possibility of two rate cuts this year. This has reignited optimism in the domestic market," said Vinod Nair, the head of research at Geojit Financial Services.

2. Top Nifty 50 gainers today

As many as 38 stocks in the Nifty 50 index closed with gains on Thursday.

Shares of SBI Life Insurance Company (up 3.43 per cent), NTPC (up 3.29 per cent) and ONGC (up 2.72 per cent) ended as the top gainers in the index.

3. Top Nifty 50 laggards today

Shares of Trent (down 1.60 per cent), Mahindra and Mahindra (down 1.45 per cent) and Wipro (down 1.38 per cent) - ended as the top losers in the Nifty 50 index.

4. Sectoral indices today

Barring Consumer Durables (down 0.77 per cent) and Metal (down 0.55 per cent), all sectoral indices ended with gains, with Nifty Media jumping 2.20 per cent.

Nifty Bank, Financial Services, PSU Bank, Private Bank, Pharma, Healthcare, and Oil and Gas gained over a per cent each.

5. Most active stocks in terms of volume

Vodafone Idea (71.9 crore shares), Ola Electric Mobility (18.9 crore shares), Manappuram Finance (14.64 crore shares), Zomato (11.33 crore shares) and GTL Infrastructure (10.50 crore shares) were the most active stocks in terms of volume on the NSE.

6. Kotak Bank, Bajaj Finance among stocks that hit 52-week highs

75 stocks, including Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Shree Cement and SRF, hit fresh 52-week highs in intraday trade on the BSE.

7. Nearly 100 stocks hit 52-week low

Some 96 stocks, including Bharat Gears, Natural Capsules and Smartlink Holdings, hit their fresh 52-week lows in intraday trade on the BSE.

8. Stocks that rose over 15% on NSE

Five stocks - Valor Estate, AIONTECH Solutions, Balu Forge Industries, SML Isuzu and Arman Financial Services - jumped 15-20 per cent on the NSE.

9. Advance-decline ratio

The advance-decline ratio tilted towards the advancers, as some 2,120 stocks advanced while 804 declined on the NSE. This means for every declining stock, nearly three stocks advanced. Some 64 stocks remained unchanged.

10. Technical outlook for Nifty 50

According to Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, the Nifty 50 continues moving upward following a falling trendline breakout, supported by upbeat sentiment.

De pointed out that during the last trading session, the index encountered resistance at the 21-week exponential moving average of 23,382.

De said a decisive move above 23,400 could drive the index higher by another 200 points, as the next resistance is at 23,600.

"A clear breakout above 23,600 might trigger another leg of the rally. On the other hand, failure to move above 23,400 could lead to near-term consolidation," De said.

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