Mid-day Mood | Nifty, Sensex rise to day's high amid gains in IT stocks

Stock Market Today

The Nifty and the Sensex held on to early gains to trade higher at noon on February 6 as investors shrugged subdued global cues. Gains in IT heavyweights and other frontline names helped the benchmarks.

Around noon, the Sensex was up 308.37 points or 0.43 percent at 72,039.79, and the Nifty was up 105.60 points or 0.49 percent at 21,877.30.

Gainers also outnumbered losers as about 1,945 shares rose, 1,257 fell and 65 remained unchanged.

Concerns over China tightening measures against domestic and foreign investors following the recent rout in the stock market kept the sentiment for global equities subdued, limiting the uptrend in the domestic market as well.

Fundamental View

"The near-term market trend indicates exhaustion and there are no clear positive triggers that can make the market sustain new highs. An important event coming up is the RBI meeting, however, no positive triggers like a rate cut are likely from the RBI meeting," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

The global market also remained challenging with the 10-year bond yield rising again to 4.13 percent and the dollar index rising to 104.5.

"The positive takeaway is that the US economy is doing surprisingly well and a sharp global slowdown triggered by a possible US recession is very unlikely. This, along with declining inflation in the US, can support global equity markets. Investors may wait and watch for new trends to emerge while remaining invested in this bull market," he said.

Technical View

The Nifty formed a double top pattern on the daily chart, signalling a cautious stance for traders. The resistance level is at 22,200 and only a decisive break above this on a closing basis could invalidate the bearish outlook, said Mandar Bhojane, Research Analyst at Choice Broking.

Bhojane pegged the support at 21,600, coinciding with the Nifty's 20-day moving average. A breach could intensify selling pressure , he said.

He sees the Bank Nifty index in a bearish territory, encountering resistance at 46,500. "The index's immediate support is positioned at 45,500, and a breach below this level is anticipated to trigger additional selling pressure. The index persists in a "sell-on-rise" mode unless it convincingly surpasses the 46,600-mark on a closing basis," Bhojane added.

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Key Nifty gainers

BPCL, HDFC Life, Bharti Airtel, TCS and Wipro

Key Nifty losers

Power Grid, Britannia, Hindalco, Bajaj Finserv and ITC

Key Sensex gainers

Bharti Airtel, TCS and Wipro

Key Sensex losers

Power Grid, IndusInd Bank and ITC

Stock moves

Bharti Airtel: The share rallied nearly 4 percent after the company reported strong Q3 earnings despite challenges from forex losses. Consolidated net profit for the December quarter grew 54 percent on year, while revenue was up 6 percent. While net profit missed Moneycontrol's estimate, revenue was at par with expectations.

Paytm: The stock trimmed early gains following reports of managing director Vijay Shekhar Sharma's meeting with RBI officials yielding no forward movement on any remedial measures for the payments aggregator.

Ashok Leyland: Shares traded 4 percent higher after the company announced a 60 percent surge in profit at Rs 580 crore, riding on strong demand in the MHCV and LCV segments in the December quarter.

Also Read | China's market restrictions won't help, may be bad for EMs, no immediate impact on India

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