Closing Bell: Sensex hits triple ton, Nifty up 150 points as RBI repo rate hike on expected lines

Closing Bell: Indian frontline indices S&P BSE Sensex and Nifty50 ended with gains on Wednesday. The markets opened positive and build-on the leads as the session progressed. The monetary policy announcements by Reserve Bank of India's Governor Shaktikanta Das were in line with the street's expectations. While Sensex ended at 60,663.79, up by 377.75 points or 0.63 per cent from the Tuesday closing, the broader market Nifty50 closed with 150.20 points or 0.85 per cent gains at 17,871.70. Banking gauge Nifty Bank finished at 41,537.65, up by 46.70 points or 0.11 per cent. 

In the 50-stock Nifty50, 38 stocks gained while 12 declined. The top gainers were Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, HDFC Life, SBI Life and Bajaj Finance while the top losers were Larsen & Toubro, Eicher Motors, Bharti Airtel, Hero MotoCorp and Axis Bank.

Source: NSE

Source: NSE

India VIX, a measure of volatility in Nifty stood at 13.60, down by 3.75 per cent.

The market breadth was largely in favour of the bulls. All 15 Nifty sectoral indices ended in the green. However, the top performers were Nifty Metal (+3.78 per cent), Nifty IT (+1.53 per cent) and Nifty Pharma (+1.36 per cent).

Broader market moved in tandem with the benchmark indices. Nifty Mid Cap 100 ended at 30,944, higher by 280.20 points or 0.91 per cent. In the 100-stock index, 66 were gainers, 31 declined while 3 remained unchanged. The top gainers were Aurobindo Pharma, PB Fintech and Max Financial Services while the top losers were Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra), ICICI Securities and Astral. While the Nifty Small Cap 100 closed at 9,478.90, up by 79.25 points or 0.84 per cent. 69 stocks gained, 30 declined while 1 remained unchanged. The top gainers were Elgie Equipments, Credit Access Grameen and Intellect Design while the top losers were Bharat Dynamics, KEI Industries and Welspun Industries.

Newage stocks like Paytm and Zomato gained tracking the overall movement in the markets. One 97 Communications shares gained 15.53 per cent or by Rs 91 at Rs 680 while Zomato closed at Rs 53, higher by Rs 4.45 or 9.02 per cent.

Out of 3,631 stocks listed on the BSE, 1,994 advanced, 1,492 declined while 145 remained unchanged. 75 stocks hit 52-week highs while 141 hit their 52-week lows.

The rupee appreciated 19 paise to close at 82.51 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked the repo rate by 25 basis points. A rally in the domestic equity markets and weakness in the greenback against major crosses overseas also supported the rupee, forex traders said. However, surging crude prices in the international market and persistent foreign fund outflows restricted the appreciation bias in the local unit, they added. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened strong at 82.67 and touched an intra-day high of 82.47 and a low of 82.72 against the greenback. It finally settled at 82.51, up 19 paise over its previous close of 82.70. PTI

"The RBI remained hawkish in its inflation outlook and increased the repo rate by 25 bps. They did not give any guidance on future rate hikes as they wanted to be cautious  in the uncertain world," Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury at Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP said. 

"Rupee remained in a range of 82.5550/82.7350 even after the monetary policy as RBI Governor  said that the currency  was very resilient and not much volatile as compared to other currencies. Low volumes seems to be governing the currency at the moment  and we expect it to remain in a range of 82.30 to 83.00 for tomorrow," Bhansali said.

Commodity Markets

MCX April Gold futures were trading at Rs 57,280, up by Rs 23 or 0.04 per cent at the time of filing the story while March Silver futures were trading at Rs 67,674 per kg, up by Rs 145 points or 0.21 per cent.

 Source: MCX

Expert Take 

“NIFTY made a strong attempt on Wednesday to move above its consolidation zone and was partially successful in doing so. On the lower time frame (60 mins), prices have witnessed a triangle pattern breakout and have closed above the upper band of the pattern.

On the daily scale, the index is trading within the falling channel pattern and is hovering near its 9 & 21 EMA, which is placed at 17,785 & 17, 868 levels respectively. Nifty is still moving within the big budget-day candle from the past five trading sessions.

Technically, Nifty is gathering momentum, reviving bullish hopes, for a test of near-term resistance at 18,000 levels. On the lower side, immediate support for the prices is placed at 17,650 levels." -- Rohan Patil, Technical Analyst, SAMCO Securities

"This morning the global set up was slightly pleasant, and in line with this, our markets started the session on a positive note. The strength continued ahead of the RBI's monetary policy, and since the outcome was very much in line with consensus (rate hike by 25 bps), we witnessed a consolidation thereafter. The buying resumed towards the latter part of the session to eventually conclude with over eight tenths of a percent gains tad above the 17850 mark.

In the last couple of sessions, the benchmark index remained sideways, and today, for the entire session, broad-based buying was clearly visible. This is what we had alluded in our previous commentary that the consolidation is probably a breather and market is likely to make an attempt in the upward direction. However, the banking space remained muted, and barring ICICI Bank, no other banking counter participated in today’s move. Hence, if we have to surpass the sturdy wall of 17900–18000, the banking heavyweights should contribute convincingly. Above which, the market will come out of the recent congestion zone, and we may see good broad-based participation thereafter. On the flipside, 17800 followed by 17700 should now be considered as immediate supports. The remaining two sessions of the week would be quite crucial as it is likely to dictate the near-term direction for our market." -- Sameet Chavan, Chief Analyst-Technical and Derivatives, Angel One Ltd