Nifty tops 16,600, Sensex gains 1100 points; support seen at 16,000-16,200

Soon after market opening, the equity benchmarks gained over 2 per cent as Nifty50 topped 16,600 and the Sensex surged by over 1100 points. Zee Business Managing Editor Anil Singhvi had placed Nifty's Day support zone on Nifty at 16,000-16,200  

Earlier, after tanking 5 per cent on back of Ukraine crisis, the worst fall since March 2020, the domestic equity market opened on a positive note as hinted by SGX Nifty. The Futures index on the Singaporean Exchange was trading higher by 268.50 or 1.65% to 6,505.50 around 9 am on Friday.  

Recouping from yesterday's loss broader Nifty50 opened above 16,500, while the Sensex added nearly 800 points, as barometer indices snapped seven days consecutive fall. 

See Zee Business Live TV Streaming Below:

Benchmarks Nifty50 and the S&P BSE Sensex opened at 16,513.20 and 55,321.72 respectively. 

Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank, UPL, Tata Steel, Adani Ports, Mahindra & Mahindra, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj FinServ, TCS and Bajaj Finance gained the most.  

Britannia, Nestle India, Cipla were the only losers on the two indices in the opening trade.  

V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said, "Market has corrected significantly with Nifty, Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap declining sharply by 12%, 20% and 22% respectively. This has made valuations fair with Nifty trading around 17 times FY23 earnings. But we are in the context of a war with a high level of uncertainty. A lot will depend on whether this will be a short war or will it get prolonged. If it turns out to be a short war with Russia succeeding in putting a pro-Russian government in Ukraine soon, markets are likely to bounce back. On the other hand, if it gets prolonged, the uncertainty will impact markets."

He suggests investors to remain cautious and vigilant as the situation remains fluid. "For long-term investors who can ignore the short-term gyrations in the market, there are buying opportunities in high quality stocks that have corrected significantly. Financials, IT and real estate stocks have the potential to bounce back smartly in a favorable environment," he added.

In the pre-open, the Sensex opened nearly 800 points higher to 55,321.72 as 28 shares advanced and two pharma shares—Dr Reddy's and Sun Pharma sat in the red. 

Earlier, Asian markets were off to a good start on Friday as Japanese Nikkei 225 was up 1.50%, Chinese Shanghai Composite was trading higher by over 1 per cent, while the Hang Seng Index at the Hong Kong Exchange was also up 0.30% in the early morning trade.  

The Wall Street indices too ended higher on back of fresh sanctions announced by the US on Russia in the backdrop of Ukraine war. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 92.07 points, or 0.28%, at 33,223.83 while the S&P 500 gained 63.2 points, or 1.50%, to 4,288.7 and the Nasdaq Composite added 436.10 points, or 3.34%, to close at 13,473.59.

"Investors rediscovered much of their appetite for riskier bets by Thursday afternoon with the MSCI global index finishing well above its session low and the U.S. dollar paring gains while oil futures pulled back from multi-year records after Russia`s invasion of Ukraine and responses from other countries," said Reuters. 

(Disclaimer: The views/suggestions/advice expressed here in this article are solely by investment experts. Zee Business suggests its readers to consult with their investment advisers before making any financial decision.)