Market Wrap, Nov 19: NIFTY50 ends at 26K, SENSEX jumps 513 points as IT stocks rally; Nifty Bank closes at record high

The Indian stock market closed higher on Wednesday, November 19, after recovering from its intraday lows, outperforming other Asian indices and supported by a strong rally in IT stocks. Nifty Bank also ended at record highs, further lifting the benchmark equity indices.

All stocks in the Nifty IT index ended in the green, led by Coforge (4.41%), followed by HCL Technologies (4.19%) and Persistent Systems (3.87%).

Nifty Bank closed above the 59,000-mark for the first time, ending at the 59,216.05 level. The milestone was supported by gains in Punjab National Bank (2.39%), Bank of Baroda (1.77%), and Canara Bank (0.94%).

According to exchange data, on Tuesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹803.22 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹2,188.47 crore on a net basis.

Globally, Asian indices settled mixed after recovering as investors assessed the impact of the global stock sell-off and also stayed cautious ahead of the earnings report from Nvidia.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.31%, South Korea's KOSPI was down 0.61%, and Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.03%. China's Shanghai Composite, however, inched up by 0.18%.

On Wall Street, US stocks closed lower on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 logging its fourth consecutive decline as valuation concerns weighed on major technology-related shares. The Dow Jones fell 1.1%, the S&P 500 slipped 0.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.2%.

Here are the key developments of Wednesday's session that you need to know

As many as 3,214 stocks traded on the NSE on Wednesday. Out of this, 1,414 advanced and 1,704 stocks declined, while 95 scrips remained unchanged.

This indicated that the market breadth was in favour of declines.

A total of 72 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 148 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 78 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 68 touched their lower circuit bands on Wednesday.

The market capitalisation of NSE-listed firms stood at ₹473,28.53 lakh crore at the close of the session.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, stood at 11.97 levels, falling 1.01%.

The broader market, meanwhile, underperformed, with the Nifty Midcap 100 rising just 0.21% to close at 60,949.05, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 fell 0.43% to end at 18,075.95.

Among sectors, Nifty IT led the gains with a strong 2.97% surge. It was followed by Nifty PSU Bank (1.16%), Nifty Consumer Durables (0.41%), Nifty Private Bank (0.31%), and Nifty Auto (0.24%).

On the downside, Nifty Realty and Nifty Oil & Gas declined 0.35% each, while Nifty Media also slipped 0.27%.

On the NIFTY50 index, 31 stocks closed higher, and 19 declined by the end of the session.

Max Healthcare was the biggest contributor, gaining 4.3%, followed by HCL Technologies (4.19%), Infosys (3.74%), Wipro (2.14%), and TCS (1.94%).

On the flip side, Tata Motors PV (-2.77%), Coal India (-1.21%), Maruti Suzuki (-1.19%), Bajaj Finance (-0.77%) and Adani Ports (-0.74%) were the biggest losers on the NIFTY50 index.