Gains in banking, financial services and pharmaceutical shares supported the markets Domestic stock markets started Thursday's session on a strong note, breaking a five-day losing streak, amid gains in Asian peers.
The S-P BSE Sensex index added as much as 322.22 points to 38,169.87 in the first hour of trade, and the NSE Nifty benchmark touched 11,361.40, up 90.1 points from the previous close.
Analysts pointed to a short-covering rally for upmove in todays session after five days of losses.
Meanwhile, gains in banking, financial services and pharmaceutical shares supported the markets.
However weakness in metal and energy counters capped the upside for the benchmarks.
Analysts say some caution can be expected ahead of the expiry of monthly derivatives contracts due by the end of the session.
Here are five things to know about the stock markets today:At 9:57 am, the Sensex traded 308.15 points - or 0.81 per cent - higher at 38,155.80 while the Nifty was up 85.80 points - or 0.76 per cent - at 11,357.10.Top percentage gainers on the 50-scrip index at the time were Bharti Infratel, Cipla, IndusInd Bank, UltraTech Cement, Dr Reddy's , Sun Pharma and HDFC, trading between 1.39 per cent and 4.51 per cent higher.Gains in HDFC Bank, HDFC, Infosys and ICICI Bank contributed the most to the advances in Sensex.Market breadth favoured gains, with1,007 stocks trading higher on the BSE and 541 struggling with losses.
On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 992 stocks advanced while 576 declined.Analysts say that after five days of losses, the markets look poised to rise in the short term."The worst appears to be over for the markets.
There has been reasonable correction in past two months," AK Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital, told TheIndianSubcontinent.The Sensex and Nifty had closed 0.36 per cent and 0.53 per cent lower respectively on Wednesday, extending theirdecline to a fifth session in a row after the International Monetary Fund cut its 2019 and 2020 growth forecasts for India."After 19 months of correction, there is an upside potential in mid- and small-cap stocks," he said.The S-P BSE Midcap and Smallcap indexes rose as much as0.86 per cent and 0.55 per cent respectively in early deals on Thursday.
At Thursday's closing levels, the indexes are down 11.20 per cent and 11.31 per cent respectively so far this year.Equities in other Asian marketstraded on a cautious note, shrugging off a tech-fuelled rally on Wall Street, withJapan's Nikkei gaining0.5 per cent to nearly three-month highs.
Australia's benchmark index hit a new 12-year top, andSouth Korea's KOSPI was the only index in the red as leading chipmakers shed recent gains amid trade tensions between Seoul and Tokyo.That left the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan broadly unchanged.(With inputs from Reuters)Get Breaking news, live coverage, and Latest News from India and around the world on TheIndianSubcontinent.com.
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