Stock market today: Domestic equity benchmark indices, the Sensex and Nifty 50, finished Wednesday's trading session higher driven by heavyweights Reliance Industries (RIL) and oil marketing companies following Goldman Sachs' setting up of a Street-high target price. Additionally, a decline in crude oil prices supported hopes for continued refining margins.
The other sectors that led to the indices bounce back were auto, private banks, and realty stocks.
The 30-share BSE Sensex ended higher by 526.01 points or 0.73% at 72,996.31 level while the Nifty 50 closed at 22,123.65 level, up 118.95 points or 0.54%. On the broader market front, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 outperformed the benchmark indices, rising 1.15%, the Nifty Midcap 100 underperformed, ending 0.12%.
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According to Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, the market ended the day higher as a result of stock-specific actions and strong undercurrents brought on by the forecast for robust economic growth.
However, due to the holiday-led truncated week, investors will now focus on US GDP data tomorrow and the RBI policy statement next week to determine the direction of the market. Though volumes are low, the mid- and small-cap spaces are doing well because investors have access to bargaining opportunities, said Nair.
Asian stocks were mixed on Wednesday following Wall Street's little pullback from its all-time highs, according to an AP news report. US futures slightly increased while oil prices dropped.
The Shanghai Composite index fell 1.3% to 2,993.14, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong slid 1.4% to 16,392.84.
The S&P/ASX 200 rose by 0.5% to 7,819.60, while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 0.9% to 40,762.73. The Taiex in Taiwan closed 0.4% higher, while the SET in Bangkok rose by 0.3%.
As many as 22 stocks settled in the green in the Nifty 50 index while the rest 27 ended in red.
Shares of Reliance Industries Ltd (up 3.49%), Maruti Suzuli India Ltd (up 2.53%), Bajaj Auto Ltd (up 2.16%), Bajaj Finance Ltd (up 1.72%) and Titan Company Ltd (up 1.62%) ended as top gainers.
On the other side, UPL Ltd (down 2.07%), Hero MotoCorp Ltd (down 2.04%), Wipro Ltd (down 1.64%), Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd (down 1.54%), and Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd (down 1.42%) were among the laggards.
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Amongst sectoral indices, Nifty Oil & Gas (up 0.54%), Nifty Realty (up 0.85%), Nifty Private Bank (up 0.60%), Nifty Auto (up 0.51%), Nifty Bank (up 0.40%) ended in green, while Nifty PSU Bank (down 0.97%), Nifty Media (down 0.57%), Nifty IT (down 0.64%), and Nifty FMCG (down 0.27%) ended in red.
"Nifty 50 remained strong following an opening with a gain. During the day, it moved up above 22,100 and closed above it as well. The short-term momentum appears positive, supported by a crossover in the RSI (14) indicator. The trend is likely to remain positive as long as it stays above 22,000. On the higher end, it could potentially move towards 22,300 and beyond in the short term," said Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst, LKP Securities.
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