Closing Bell: Nifty ends above 16,000, Sensex jumps almost 300 points as market extends rally to 5th day; IndusInd Bank outperform

Continuing with the bull run, the Indian market surged for the fifth consecutive day to settle in the green on Thursday. In the five-day rally, the benchmarks Nifty50 and Sensex surged around four per cent each.  

Ahead of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) meeting, the broader Nifty50 and Sensex gained around half per cent as the former closed above 16,600 and the latter rose by around 300 points to end near 55,700.  

"With support from FII buying, the domestic market was able to withstand the downward pressure from global markets to close on a positive note, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

"Global indices traded lower on rate hike worries as ECB in its meeting today, is expected to raise rates by 50bps, while the Fed is expected to increase rates by 75bps in upcoming meeting scheduled next week. Even though a rate hike of this magnitude has already been factored in, the major market driver would be their commentary on future inflation and growth forecasts," the expert added.

Outperforming the benchmarks, Nifty Midcap rose by around 1.4% and the Small cap gained almost 0.8%.  

PSU Bank and Oil & Gas indices continued to lead the Nifty sectoral indices with 1.7% and 1.1% gains respectively. However, Healthcare and Pharma witnessed some profit booking.

Speaking on Bank Nifty, Kunal Shah, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, said the Bank index continued its upward momentum and remains in a buy-on-dip mode with strong support at the 35,800 level. "The immediate upside resistance is placed at 36,500 and a breach of this lead accelerates the move towards the 37,000 level. The momentum oscillators are in the buy zone which confirms the strength," he added. 

Buoyed by strong Q1FY 23 numbers, IndusInd Bank led the benchmarks, gaining by almost 8%. Bajaj twins, Asian Paints, Axis Bank, Tata Consumer, UPL, L&T, Power Grid and Tech Mahindra were other other top gainers on the Nifty50 and Sensex.  

Those dragged the market amid positive sentiment were Kotak Bank, Dr Reddy's, Reliance, SBI Life and Cipla among others.