Sensex tops 60,000 points while Nifty50 reclaims 18,000 powered by banks, realty and metal stocks

• The Sensex closed at 60,566, gaining 721 points, while the Nifty50 topped 18,000 level to close at 18,014, up 207 points.
• Barring pharmaceuticals and healthcare indices, all other sectors closed higher with the Nifty PSU Bank index registering the highest gains at 7.29%.
• On the Nifty50 index, IndusInd Bank and SBI were the top gainers with an increase of over 4% each.
• Three out of the top five losers on the Nifty50 were from the pharma sector, while the other two were from the FMCG segment.
  

Indian benchmark indices on Monday shrugged off Covid and recessionary concerns to breach key psychological levels in a post-Christmas rally that brought some cheer to investors. The rally was supported by gains in banking stocks – especially the PSU Banks index that raced past all other indices – besides realty and metal stocks.

The 30-stock Sensex closed above the 60,000 psychological mark at 60,566, gaining 721 points while the 50-stock Nifty50 topped the crucial 18,000 level to close at 18,014, up 207 points.

“Nifty recovered on December 26 after a three-day losing streak. Holidays in most global equity markets gave a chance to traders to ramp up stock values in India amidst low volumes. Broad market indices rose more than Nifty50 while the advance decline ratio jumped to 5.43:1. Defensive stocks underperformed while cyclicals bounced up smartly,” said Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities.

Overall, the volume on the benchmark Nifty50 index on Monday stood at 353.3 million.

Barring the pharmaceuticals and healthcare indices, all other sectors closed higher, with the Nifty PSU Bank index closing with the highest gains of 7.29%. While the Nifty Media index was up 2.85%, the Private Bank index rose 2.44% and the Realty index gained 2.43%. The wider bank index was up 2.31% while the Metal index ended up 2.19%.

Meanwhile, the Asian markets also closed higher with China’s Shanghai SE Composite and Nikkei 225 gaining 0.65% each, South Korea’s KOSPI up 0.15% and Taiwan SE Weighted Index rising 0.095%. Hong Kong and the US markets were closed on account of Christmas holidays.


Since this is the last week of the year, which coincides with the holiday season across the world, analysts believe the markets are likely to be flat to slightly higher.

“After a sharp fall of 3% in the Nifty50 over the last three trading sessions, value- based buying emerged at lower levels. In the absence of any major global events due to year-end holidays, we expect the market to remain sideways to positive based on news flows,” said Siddhartha Khemka, head - retail research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Banks, auto, capital goods and defence sectors are likely to do well in the near term, he added.

Brent crude oil prices rose to $84.5 per barrel, from $82.1 at market close on Friday. The Rupee appreciated 21 paise against the US dollar to close at 82.65.

On the Nifty50 index, IndusInd Bank and SBI were the top gainers with an increase of over 4%, followed by Hindalco Industries (3.12%), Tata Steel (2.69%), and Coal India (2.69%). Three out of the top five losers were from the pharma sector, while the other two were from the FMCG segment.

Here are top moving stocks in the Nifty500 index

Easy Trip Planners rockets 20% after company announces referral scheme
Among major movers, shares of Easy Trip Planners (EaseMyTrip) rallied nearly 20% after the company announced a referral scheme for its shareholders, wherein shareholders can get cash backs on flights, hotels, holidays, buses and train bookings on referring the site to others.

The online travel company said that shareholders would need to be at least 15-day-old members of the company to utilise the offer on EaseMyTrip mobile app.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) were net sellers on Monday pulling out ₹498 crore while domestic institutional investors (DII) bought ₹1,286 crore.

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