During the day, the domestic indexes swung between gains and losses.
New Delhi:
The Indian equity benchmarks rose for the fourth straight session on Friday led by gains in pharma and healthcare stocks. The domestic indexes swung between gains and losses in a highly volatile trade before settling in the green.
The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 86 points or 0.15 per cent to settle at 55,550, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 36 points or 0.21 per cent higher to close at 16,630.
Mid- and small-cap shares finished on a strong note as Nifty Midcap 100 index jumped 0.61 per cent and small-cap shares gained 0.91 per cent.
12 out of the 15 sector gauges — compiled by the National Stock Exchange — settled in green. Nifty Pharma and Nifty Healthcare Index outperformed the index by rising as much as 2.46 per cent and 2.60 per cent, respectively. However, Nifty Auto slipped 0.40 per cent.
On the stock-specific front, Cipla was the top Nifty gainer as the stock surged 5.87 per cent to Rs 1,045. BPCL, Sun Pharma, JSW Steel and Indian Oil Corp were also among the gainers.
The overall market breadth stood positive as 2,090 shares advanced while 1,250 declined on BSE.
On the 30-share BSE index, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy’s, PowerGrid, ITC, Titan and Asian Paints were among the top gainers.
In contrast, Nestle India, Maruti Suzuki India, Tata Steel, NTPC, UltraTech Cement and Axis Bank settled in the red.
“Nifty has staged a strong bounce back from structural value level of 15,900. This along with momentum reversal confirmation suggests ‘buy on dips’ strategy should work will for the near term. We expect March series to trade with a positive bias with initial targets placed at 17,100-17,200. We remain positive on the broader markets with the NBFC (Non-bank financial institution) and FMCG (Fast-moving consumer goods) space giving good risk-reward opportunities. Metals stocks remain in the high volatile zone making it difficult to define risk levels,” said Sahaj Agrawal, Head of Research- Derivatives at Kotak Securities.
In global markets, oil prices stabilised and were on track for their biggest weekly drops since November after see-sawing on fears of escalating bans on Russian oil versus efforts to bring more supply to market from other major producers.
