Closing Bell: Sensex surges 900 points, Nifty over 240 points as banks take control of D-Street

Closing Bell: Indian frontline indices S&P BSE Sensex and Nifty50 traded with authority on Friday, particularly Nifty50 which has been at the receiving end of the Adani Group saga. Sensex ended at 60,841.88, up by 909.64 points or 1.52 per cent, the broader market Nifty50 closed at 17,854.05, higher by 243.65 points or 1.38 per cent. Banking gauge, Nifty Bank closed at 41,499.70, higher by 830.40 points or 2.04 per cent. 

 In the 50-stock Nifty50, 36 stocks advanced. The top gainers were Adani Ports, Titan, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv and HDFC Bank while the top losers were, Divi's Laboratories, Adani Enterprises, BPCL, Tata Consumer Products and Hindalco Industries. 

India VIX, a ameasure of volatility in Nifty was down over 8 per cent from the Thursday closing at 14.40. 

Source: NSE

 Source: NSE

Strength was lended to the markets by banking and financial services stocks. 

Out of 15 Nifty Sectoral indices, 9 finished with gains. Nifty PSU Banks (+3.07 per cent), Nifty Financial Services (+2.36 per cent) and Nifty Bank (+2.04 per cent) were clear winners in the pack.

Contrary to benchmark indices, broader markets were mired by some selling pressure with stock spicific action. Nifty Mid Cap 100 closed 54 points oo 0.18 per cent lower at 30,378.10. In the 10-share index, 44 stocks advanced, 55 decined and 1 remained unchanged. The top gainers were Mahindra & Mahindra Finance, Dalmia Bharat and Canara Bank while the top losers were Crompton Greaces, Adani Wilmar and Dr Lal Path Labs.

Nifty Mid Cap 100 ended at 9,415.55, down by 32.75 points or 0.35 per cent. 36 stocks advanced, 62 declined while 2 remained unchanged. The top gainers were Firstsource Solutions, MCX and Elgi Equipments while worst performers were Hindustan Copper, Metropolis Healthcare and Renuka Sugars.  

The rupee opened flat and later weakened to 82.29 as FPIs kept buying dollars for the outflows amidst various news coming out of the Adani Group, Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury at Finrex Treasury Advisors said. The range for tomorrow is 81.70 to 82.40, he said. 

Expert Take

"The Nifty, in the week gone by, had breached its 40 WEMA on an intraweek basis; however received support near the lower end of the downward sloping channel & the 200 DMA & recovered thereon. The recovery picked up momentum on February 03 as the index surpassed the hurdle zone of 17650-17700. Consequently, the Nifty is approaching to climb above the 20 DMA & can test the level of 18000 on the higher side. On the other hand, the near term support is placed at 17700 with the major support near 17350." -- Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Head of Technical Research, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas

"The markets were already in the grip of a sharp intra-day volatility over the past week or so and hence the recovery was highly anticipated. While  banking and auto stocks led the upsurge, weakness in energy, oil & gas and power stocks show the pain continues in the broader market. Also, overnight recovery in the US markets and the US Fed indicating that interest rate hike could be moderate going ahead bolstered the market sentiment. Technically, for Nifty traders, the immediate hurdle would be the 20-day SMA (Simple Moving Average) or 17950. As long as the index is trading above 17700, the pullback formation is likely to continue above which it could move up to 18000. On further upside the index could move up to 18150. On the flip side, below 17700 the weak sentiment is likely to accelerate and below the same the index could retest the level of 17500-17400." -- Amol Athawale, Deputy Vice President - Technical Research, Kotak Securities Ltd