Closing Bell: Market extends rally to 7th day; Sensex ends near 60,200, Nifty settles above 17,900- Bajaj twins lead rally

The bulls remained in command on Dalal Street as the market extended the gains to the seventh day in a row on Wednesday. The benchmarks ended higher by more than half per cent amid positive cues from global markets, easing of inflation and FIIs buying among other factors.  

The market was at a four-month high as the Sensex closed  near 60,200, while the Nifty ended around 17,900.  

"Consistent participation by FIIs is the backbone of the current rally in the domestic market. This reversal in the FII trend is owed to the resilience showcased by the Indian economy even as inflation continues to plague the western markets," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. 

Declining commodity and oil prices also instilled confidence among foreign investors, he said, adding that the western markets were weak ahead of the release of the US FOMC meeting minutes. 

Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart Ltd said Nifty is continuing its northward journey, thanks to continuous buying by FIIs and the cool-off in crude oil prices, however, there is a risk of some profit booking after a 7-day winning streak as Nifty is approaching the psychological level of 18000. "On the downside, 17700 will be the immediate support level while 17500-17400 is a strong demand zone at any pullback. Bankifty is consolidating near 39500 level, where we can expect some profit booking towards 38700-38400 zone. while if it sustains above 39500 level, then we can expect a move towards 40000 level," Meena added.

Bajaj twins—Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv — led the rally on the 30-share index as it reclaimed 60,000-mark after four months. HDFC Life, Hero MotoCorp, BHarti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech were other notable gainers on the benchmarks.  

Speaking on the Sensex reclaiming 60,000-mark, Nilesh Shah,Group President & MD, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company, said the index at 60000 is just a number. As an investor did you benefit out of it? Were you able to average at lower levels?  

"Keep faith in India growth story and use corrections as an opportunity to add to your equity portfolio,” he said.  

Today, we saw a 60000 mark on Sensex and the sentiments around the streets are of new life high soon, but technically we have seen 5 weeks of rally and we are near strong resistance of 60500, said Independent market Expert Kush Ghodasara, CMT. "I believe we have a profit booking on the cards before reaching out new highs as indicators are weakening," he added

Meanwhile, in line with the benchmarks, Nifty Midcap and Smallcap ended higher by around half per cent each. Sectorally, Nifty auto ended lower by 0.40%, while all other indices comfortably sat in the green. Nifty PSU Bank, Financial Services, IT and Media were top gainers among sectral indices.