Sensex closes 900 points higher led by rally in Adani group stocks & banks

• India’s benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty50 gained from positive cues in global markets.
• The Sensex closed 1.53% or 899 points higher at 59,808 while the Nifty50 ended 1.57% or 272 points up at 17,594.
• The stocks that pushed the index higher were Adani Enterprises with nearly 17% gains and Adani Ports & SEZ, which surged nearly 10%
• Index heavyweights Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and ITC also supported the index.

India’s benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty50 rallied on Friday as sharp gains in Adani group stocks and positive flows from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) propped up a market that was also aided by positive global market cues.

The Sensex closed 1.53% or 899.6 points higher at 59,809 while the Nifty50 ended 1.57% or 272 points up at 17,594.

The stocks that pushed up the index higher were Adani Enterprises, with nearly 17% gains, and Adani Ports & SEZ, which surged nearly 10%. The Adani stocks rallied a day after GQG Partners, a US-based global equity investment firm, bought stakes in four listed group companies – Adani Ports & SEZ, Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission and Adani Enterprises – for ₹15,446 crore via block deals. This gave a much needed boost to these stocks that have been beaten down since the Hindenburg Research came out on January 24, alleging stock manipulation and fraud by the conglomerate.

All sectoral indices were up on Friday with PSU Banks and metals topping the list. Nifty PSU Bank index was up 5.4% with SBI jumping 5.11% and Bank of Baroda surging 4.83% on Friday.

“The market had more reasons to cheer today than to worry about concerns regarding inflation. PSU Banks led the sectoral rally as reports of foreign investments in Adani stocks helped the sector in recouping the dampened sentiments. The sentiment was further lightened as FIIs turned in strong buyers. Positive global sentiments also played a vital role in uplifting the market, as a Fed official commented on a favourable level of rate hike in the next meeting,” said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Index heavyweights Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and ITC also supported the rise in the index.

Top moving stocks on Nifty50 on Friday

The market was also cheered by the reversal in the FII trend as they turned large buyers on Thursday, primarily due to flows into Adani group companies. FIIs pumped in ₹12,771 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) invested ₹2,129 crore.

Meanwhile, the rupee rose 63 paise to close at 81.97 against the US dollar on Friday.

On Thursday, the markets closed in the red, with the Sensex falling 0.84% and the Nifty50 declining 0.74%, dragged down by IT and bank stocks.

Global markets rise
Markets in the US rallied on Thursday after Atlanta Federal Reserve president Raphael Bostic said that a 25 basis point hike was likely and as US treasury yields cooled.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.05% while S&P 500 gained 0.76%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed 0.73% higher.

In Asia, too, the sentiments were positive, led by Nikkei 225 which gained 1.56%. The Hang Seng was up 0.78%, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.54%, Taiwan Weighted edged up 0.06% and KOSPI rose 0.17%.


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