The Indian market snapped a three-day losing streak to close on a positive note, powered by banking and metal names in a highly volatile session on February 8, as the Reserve Bank of India began its crucial policy meet.
At close, the Sensex was up 187.39 points, or 0.33 percent, at 57,808.58, and the Nifty was up 53.20 points, or 0.31 percent, at 17,266.80.
The market opened positive but soon erased the gains only to swing back into the green to close near the day’s high.
“Indian equities were highly volatile today, swaying between gains and losses while managing to close on a positive note. Selling pressure from FIIs was countered by bargain hunting by domestic investors,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
European shares advanced following the European Central Bank president’s comments that there were lower chances of a measurable tightening of monetary policy, which helped in comforting global investors, he added.
Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, Divis Labs, Reliance Industries and Bajaj Finserv were the top Nifty gainers, while losers were ONGC, Power Grid Corporation, IOC, SBI Life Insurance and Tata Consumer Products.
Except Nifty auto, metal, pharma and PSU bank, all other sectoral indices ended in the red with the Nifty Energy index falling 1.3 percent.
The broader market underperformed the benchmarks. The BSE smallcap index shed 1.4 percent and the midcap index fell 0.45 percent.
On the BSE, the metal index rose 1 percent, while capital goods, oil & gas, realty and power indices fell 0.5-2.8 percent.
A long build-up was seen in GNFC, Bank of Baroda and SRF, while a short build-up was seen in Tata Power, Indiabulls Housing Finance and Gujarat Gas.
Among individual stocks, a volume spike of more than 200 percent was seen in Granules India, Voltas and TVS Motor Company.
More than 150 stocks, including DB Realty, Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals and Nahar Spinning Mills, hit a 52-week high on the BSE.
Manish Hathiramani, proprietary index trader and technical analyst, Deen Dayal Investments
While the Nifty broke the previous day’s low, it bounced sharply to close above 17,100. If it breaks 17,100 on a closing basis, the markets can slide to 16,800-16,850.
On the upside, resistance is at 17,600 and the index would have to close above the level to turn bullish.
The recovery will continue as long as the index holds above 17,000.
On the higher end, immediate resistance is at 17,330. A sustained trade above 17,330 may induce further rally.
With geopolitical tensions showing no signs of abating, any further surge in oil prices could hurt Indian markets. On daily charts, the Nifty formed a Hammer formation, which suggests indecisiveness among bulls and bears.
The large trading range would be 17,100-17,400, while 17,150 would be the important support level. Above it, the index could move to 17,350-17,400. Below 17,150, the chances of the index sliding to 17,100-17,075 remain high.
