NIFTY50 and SENSEX extend gains, rise 0.5%; SBI Life, HDFC Life among top gainers

Indian equity benchmark indices ended Tuesday’s session with a gain of nearly half a percent. After opening on a positive note, the indices extended their gains by midday. However, in the latter part of the day, the indices traded within a narrow range. The NIFTY50 closed the day at 25,698.85, up by 126.20 points, while the SENSEX rose by 378.18 points at 80,802.86 level.

The NIFTY50 index extended its winning streak for the fourth consecutive day on Tuesday, while SENSEX continued its rally, recovering from a one-day setback to achieve its best close in the last two weeks. This rally was seen on the back of outperformance by banking and financial stocks, with the Nifty Bank index rallying over 400 points to its best close after August 2. The broader markets mirrored this positive trend, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index closing above the 58,200 mark, securing its best close since early August.

The NIFTY50 index has rallied 800 points from the August 5 low when markets fell in a volatile sell-off sparked by global bearish sentiments. However, things have improved post that as economic numbers from the U.S. have improved, easing the recession fears. Market participants are anticipating a rate cut in the U.S. and signs of possible progress in Middle East ceasefire talks have improved the sentiment.

Top Gainers & Losers

Index Movers

Coming to the NIFTY50 index pullers and draggers, SBI Life (+9.35 pts), Kotak Bank (+8.17 pts), Axis Bank (+7.88 pts), Reliance (+7.42 pts) and Bajaj Finserv (+6.5 pts) were the pullers of the day. Draggers included Bharti Airtel (-12.5 pts), ITC (-6.17 pts), ONGC (-4.15 pts), Adani Enterprise (-1.87 pts), and Apollo Hospitals (-1.71 pts).

Broader indices

Today, the broader market ended the day on a positive note. The Nifty Midcap 100 gained by +0.84%, and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index closed up by +0.47%. Market breadth was strong on Tuesday as the advancing stocks outnumbered the declining stocks.

Sectoral Indices

Most of the sectoral indices ended the day in green today barring Nifty Media (-0.27%), and Nifty FMCG (-0.14%). The top three sectoral gainers were Nifty PSU Bank (+1.68%), Nifty Financial Services (+1.11%), and Nifty Private Bank (+1.02%).

Asian Markets

On Tuesday, Asian markets closed on a mixed note. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained +1.98%, the Kospi closed up by +0.83%, while the Hang Seng declined by -0.33%, and the Shanghai index closed down by -0.94%.

As of 3:43 PM, The Dow Jones futures were trading flat by -16 points at 41,004.