Sensex, Nifty 50 extend gains to 4th straight session — 10 key highlights of Indian stock market today

Extending gains to the fourth consecutive session, frontline indices the Sensex and the Nifty 50 closed with solid gains on Thursday, March 20, on across-the-board buying.

The Sensex rose 899 points, or 1.19 per cent, to close at 76,348, while the Nifty 50 settled at 23,190.65, up 283 points, or 1.24 per cent.

The BSE Midcap index ended 0.61 per cent higher, and the Smallcap index rose 0.73 per cent.

Investors earned over ₹3 lakh crore in a day as the overall market capitalisation of the BSE-listed firms jumped to over ₹408 lakh crore from ₹405 lakh crore in the previous session.

The Sensex and the Nifty have gained 3.4 per cent and 3.5 per cent, respectively, in the last four sessions.

Stock market today: 10 key highlights

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

1. Why did the Indian stock market rise today?

Valuation comfort, especially in large-caps, improving economic indicators, expectations of earnings and fall in dollar index revival are driving the domestic market higher.

After the recent correction, investors are buying quality stocks across sectors.

Shares of Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Infosys and TCS were the top contributors to the gains in the Sensex index on Thursday.

"Consistent fall of the US dollar index (DXY) has reduced the intensity of FII (foreign institutional investors) selling while DII (domestic institutional investors) buying continues to be strong, thus triggering the recent upside," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

"Supportive domestic data indicating a month-on-month rise in economic activity and the view that more rate cuts are envisaged during the year are adding to the attractiveness of equity," Nair said.

2. Top Nifty 50 gainers today

As many as 44 stocks in the Nifty 50 index closed with gains on Thursday.

Shares of Bharti Airtel (up 4.08 per cent), Titan (up 3.47 per cent) and Eicher Motors (up 2.61 per cent) ended as the top gainers in the index.

3. Nifty 50 laggards today

Four stocks - IndusInd Bank (down 1.11 per cent), Bajaj Finance (down 0.59 per cent), Trent (down 0.30 per cent) and Shriram Finance (down 0.25 per cent) - ended in the red in the Nifty index.

4. Sectoral indices today

All sectoral indices ended with gains, with Nifty Auto, FMCG, IT, Media, Metal, Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables, Healthcare and Realty rising over a per cent each.

The Nifty Bank index rose 0.72 per cent, while the Financial Services ended 0.70 per cent higher.

Nifty Private Bank and PSU Bank indices climbed 0.61 per cent and 0.42 per cent, respectively.

5. Most active stocks in terms of volume

Vodafone Idea (47.50 crore shares), YES Bank (8.07 crore shares), Easy Trip Planners (7.27 crore shares), Zomato (6.14 crore shares), National Highways Infra Trust (6.10 crore shares), Shipping Corporation Of India (5.85 crore shares) and Ola Electric Mobility (5.6 crore shares) were the most active stocks in terms of volume on the NSE.

6. IndiGo, Muthoot Finance among stocks that hit 52-week highs

69 stocks, including IndiGo, Muthoot Finance and Shree Cement, hit fresh 52-week highs in intraday trade on the BSE.

7. Over 100 stocks hit 52-week low

Some 106 stocks, including KEI Industries, Deccan Health Care and NDL Ventures, hit their fresh 52-week lows in intraday trade on the BSE.

8. Stocks that rose over 18% on NSE

Four stocks - Vibhor Steel Tubes, Manugraph India, Sanginita Chemicals and Rajesh Exports- jumped 18-20 per cent on the NSE.

9. Advance-decline ratio

The advance-decline ratio tilted towards the advancers, as some 1,759 stocks advanced while 1,143 declined on the NSE. Some 79 stocks remained unchanged.

10. Nifty 50 technical outlook

According to Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, the Nifty 50 has given a falling trendline breakout on the daily chart, suggesting a bullish trend reversal.

De highlighted the index has been sustaining above the 21EMA for the past three days, confirming a short-term uptrend. The RSI has risen above the previous swing high, further strengthening the positive sentiment.

"Overall, the outlook remains optimistic, with the potential for a further rally in the short term. On the higher end, Nifty could move towards 23,400 and beyond, while on the lower end, support is placed at 23,000," said De.

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