Sensex Ends 111 Points Higher, Nifty Above 24,450; Niva Bupa Jumps 20%

Benchmark equity indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 ended Wednesday’s choppy session in positive territory, extending their winning streak for the fourth consecutive session.

Sensex settled 110.58 points or 0.14 per cent higher at 80,956.33, trading in the range of 81,245.39-80,630.53. The NSE Nifty50 ended at 24,467.45, up 10.30 points or 0.04 per cent. Nifty50 scaled day’s high of 24,573.20 during intra-day trade, while the day’s low was seen at 24,366.30.

30 out of the 50 constituent stocks on Nifty50 ended in the red, dragged by Bharti Airtel, Cipla, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, and Adani Ports, with losses extending up to 2.28 per cent. HDFC Life, HDFC Bank, Apollo Hospital, NTPC, and Bajaj Finserv, on the other hand, were among the 20 stocks that ended in the green, with gains extending up to 2.52 per cent.

Notably, index heavyweight HDFC Bank ended at a record high closing of Rs 1,860, after scaling its 52-week high of Rs 1,865 during intra-day trade on Wednesday. HDFC Bank alone contributed 217 points to the BSE Sensex; had it not been for HDFC Bank the markets could have ended in negative zone.

Broader markets outperformed the benchmarks, with the Nifty Midcap100 index ending higher by 1.05 per cent. The Nifty Smallcap100 index, too, ended in the green, up 0.89 per cent.
The fear index, India VIX, which gauges volatility in the markets, ended higher by 0.86 per cent at 14.50 points.

Banking shares were the best performers on Wednesday, as Nifty PSU Bank index ended as the top gainer among the sectoral indices, ending higher by 2.25 per cent. Bank Nifty and the Nifty Private Bank index ended higher by 1.08 per cent and 0.86 per cent, respectively. Among others, Nifty Financials, IT, Realty, and Healthcare indices ended higher by up to 2.14 per cent, while Nifty Auto, Metal, Pharma, FMCG, and OMCs indices settled in the red with losses of up to 0.71 per cent.
Global Cues

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were trading lower following South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol’s brief imposition and subsequent lifting of martial law. South Korea’s Kospi index fell by 1.8%, while the Kosdaq dropped 2.18%.

Other Asian markets also saw declines, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 down 0.3%, the Topix dropping 0.4%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index down 0.16%, the CSI 300 falling 0.27%, and the Shanghai Composite slipping 0.13%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.55%.

In the US, both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed at record highs overnight, while the Dow Jones saw a decline. Investors also absorbed reassuring comments from Federal Reserve officials, who indicated that inflation is on track to reach the central bank’s 2% target, with a “solid” job market.