FINAL TRADE: Indices halt 4-day losing streak aided by financial stocks; Nifty 3 pts shy of 22,150, Sensex settles 599 pts higher

Stock market today: Halting the four-day fall, domestic blue-chip indices Nifty50 and Sensex staged a strong recovery on Friday, April 19 aided by buying in financial stocks after stock market nosedived into negative territory, succumbing to the escalating tensions between Iran and Israel in early deals.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 gained 151.15 points or 0.69 per cent to settle at 22,147, while the BSE Sensex added 599.34 points or 0.83 per cent to close at 73,088.33. 

From the Nifty50 basket, Bajaj Finance, M&M, HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki and JSW Steel were the major gainers while Bajaj Auto, Nestle India, Divi's and HCL Tech were among the laggards. 30 of the Nifty 50 stocks advanced and twelve of the 19 major sectors logged losses while one remained unchanged.

"Despite global weakness, Indian markets staged a strong recovery driven by large-cap stocks, buoyed by the expectation of limited prospects of escalation following Israel's actions against Iran. However, fragility persists with elevated oil prices, posing inflation risks. Gold prices were rising on account of safe heaven demand. FIIs continued to remain risk-averse, a trend seen since last week," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services said. 

Nifty Bank ended at 47,574.15, up 504.7 points, or 1.07 per cent. Meanwhile, the broader, more domestically-focussed Nifty SmallCap 100 and Nifty Midcap 100 lost about 0.1 per cent and 0.61 per cent, respectively.

Global Market 

European stocks dropped to their lowest levels in more than one month on Friday after a ramp-up in the Middle East conflict spooked investors, while L'Oreal's shares rose as the French cosmetic giant's quarterly sales trounced estimates.

The continent-wide STOXX 600 (.STOXX) was down 0.7 per cent, as of 0837 GMT with most sectors in the red. Indexes across major European economies such as Germany (.GDAXI), France (.FCHI), Italy (.FTMIB) and Spain (.IBEX) dropped between 0.7 per cent and 1.2 per cent.

"Global sentiment remains subdued due to a robust US economy and persistent inflation, dampening hopes of a near-term Fed rate cut. Mid & small caps saw weakness as Q4 earnings expectations remained muted," he added. 

(with agencies inputs)

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