The Indian equity benchmarks ended Tuesday’s volatile session on a positive note led by gains in banking shares after the Supreme Court refused to extend the six-month loan moratorium period offered by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last year, saying that it is ‘policy decision’ on the part of the Centre and RBI. The benchmarks opened higher and fluctuated in the first hour of trade as India VIX, the volatility index, jumped over 3 per cent. However, buying in banking shares in afternoon trading, helped benchmarks close higher. The Sensex rose as much as 493 points and Nifty 50 index reclaimed its important psychological level of 14,800.
The Sensex 280 points or 0.56 per cent higher at 50,051 and Nifty 50 index advanced 78 points or 0.53 per cent to close at 14,815.
“After a few days of the lackluster movement, the markets witnessed a positive trend. The Nifty is expected to be in the range of 14,750 and 15,000 and it’s going to be crucial for the short-term scenario to sustain above 14,750,” Ashis Biswas, head of technical research at CapitalVia Global Research told NDTV.
Eight of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty PSU Bank index’s nearly 3 per cent gain. Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Financial Services and Realty sector gauges also rose between 1-1.7 per cent.
On the other hand, FMCG, media and metal indexes closed lower.
Mid- and small-cap shares also witnessed buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.9 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.4 per cent.
Shares of alcoholic beverage makers rallied on Tuesday a day after the Delhi Government reduced the legal age for drinking to 21 years from 25 years raising hopes of higher demand for alcoholic beverages going ahead, analysts said. Shares of the country’s largest alcoholic beverages maker United Spirits rose as much as 2.79 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 558, Radico Khaitan, maker of Magic Moments brand of vodka, rose as much as 6.68 per cent to Rs 566.7, Globus Spirits rose 7 per cent, GM Breweries advanced 8 per cent and United Breweries, maker of Kingfisher beer, advanced 1.5 per cent.
Adani Ports was among the top Nifty gainers after the company informed exchanges that it has acquired controlling stake in Gangavaram Port (GPL) from DVS Raju Family. Adani Ports and SEZ acquired additional 58.1 per cent stake in Gangavaram Port from DVS Raju Family for Rs 3,604 crore taking its stake in Gangavaram Port to 89.6 per cent.
Shree Cements, UltraTech Cement, Divi’s Labs, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Titan, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Eicher Motors and Reliance Industries also ended over 1 per cent higher.
On the flipside, Hindalco, ONGC, Power Grid, GAIL, NTPC, ITC, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, Sun Pharma, HDFC, Hero MotoCorp and JSW Steel were among the laggards.