Sensex Ends 562 pts Higher, Nifty Above 18,000; L&T, HUL Rise up to 3%

Sensex Today: Indian shares extended gains on Tuesday, lifted by consumer stocks after data showed domestic inflation was easing and oil refiners rose on the government’s cut on a windfall tax on crude oil. Key indices Nifty50 closed at 18,055 levels, up 160 points or 0.9 per cent, whereas the S&P BSE Sensex closed at 60,655 levels, up 562 points or 0.9 per cent.

Broader markets, however, underperformed benchmark indices as Nifty SmallCap 100 and Nifty MidCap 100 indices dropped up to 0.1 per cent. India VIX, the volatility gauge, meanwhile, eased below 2 per cent.

Sectorally, Nifty FMCG, Nifty Realty, and Nifty IT logged the most gains, up to 1 per cent. However, Nifty PSU Bank, and Nifty Media indices lost the most, up to 1 per cent.

Among individual stocks, shares of Siemens zoomed over 3 per cent after it signed a Rs 26,000-crore contract to manufacture 1,200 electric freight locomotives for the Indian Railways.

Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said: “The dominant trend impacting the near-term texture of the market is the sustained selling by FIIs for the eleventh time this month. There is selling even in bluechip names like HDFC Bank, that too, after impressive Q3 results. The simple logic behind sustained FII selling is that India is the only large market where FIIs are still sitting on good profits after the disastrous 2022 performance in most global markets. FIIs are playing it safe by moving money to cheaper markets where there is valuation comfort. The sustained FII selling has turned the near-term structure of the market weak. The best investment strategy in the present weak market would be to systematically buy high quality large-caps in performing sectors like banking, capital goods, telecom and construction-related segments. Soon, India’s strong fundamentals will bring cheer to the market.”

Rupee Close

Indian rupee ended 16 paise lower at 81.77 per dollar against previous close of 81.61.

Global Cues

Globally, trade in Asia began on a mixed note today, ahead of China GDP data and the Bank of Japan’s two-day monetary policy meeting. Nikkei was up over a per cent, the Shenzhen Component rose 0.2 per cent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.24 per cent.

Wall Street was shut overnight due to a public holiday.

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