Taking Stock: Market gains on late buying; Sensex up 298 points, Nifty above 18,200

On May 19, the Sensex was up 297.94 points or 0.48% at 61,729.68, and the Nifty was up 73.40 points or 0.40% at 18,203.40. About 1587 shares advanced, 1759 shares declined, and 139 shares unchanged. Take a look at the gainers and losers of the day:

The Indian equity market closed higher on May 19, snapping a three-day losing streak led by buying in information technology, auto and banking names in a highly volatile session.

At close, the Sensex was up 298 points or 0.48 percent at 61,729.68, and the Nifty was up 73.40 points or 0.40 percent at 18,203.40.

After a positive start, the equity benchmarks remained range-bound for most part of the session but buying in the last couple of hours helped them close near the day's high.

For the week, however, both benchmarks were down 0.5 percent each.

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Stocks and Sectors

Top gainers on the Nifty included Adani Ports and  Adani Enterprises after a Supreme Court panel in its report found no regulatory failure or price manipulation in Adani group stock. The other gainers were Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra and Infosys.

Divis Laboratories, Britannia Industries, Tata Consumer Products, NTPC and ONGC lost the most in the Nifty bunch.

Among sectors, information technology index was up 1.4 percent and auto, bank and realty gained 0.5 percent each. The pharma index closed a percent lower.

The BSE midcap and smallcap indices underperformed and ended flat.

A short build-up was seen in Siemens, Zydus Lifesciences and Bandhan Bank, while a long build-up, a bullish sign, was seen in The Ramco Cements, Birlasoft and Adani Enterprises.

Among individual stocks, a volume spike of more than 400 percent was seen in HDFC Asset Management Company, Samvardhana Motherson International and Muthoot Finance.

More than 100 stocks, touched their 52-week high on the BSE, including Arvind, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company, Kirloskar Oil Engines, Star Cement and Walchandnagar Industries.

Outlook for May 22

Jatin Gedia, Technical Research Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas:

The Nifty witnessed a volatile day today. It opened on a positive note and slipped in to the red during the first half of the trading session. On the downside the 20-day moving average placed at 18,108 acted as a support and the Nifty witnessed strong buying interest which helped it to close in the green after falling for three consecutive days.

The positive divergence on the hourly momentum indicator indicated loss of momentum on the downside which in turn helped the upmove. Thus, both price and momentum indicator suggest that there could be further upmove over the next few trading sessions.

In terms of levels, 18,300 – 18,350 is the immediate hurdle zone while 18,100 – 18,050 shall act as a crucial support zone. Overall, we still believe that the Nifty is in a consolidation mode and the range of consolidation is likely to be 18,000 – 18,400.

Dr. Joseph Thomas, Head of Research, Emkay Wealth Management:

The domestic equity market has been quite buoyant, despite dampeners from abroad in the form of the accelerating fear of recession and the forecasts of slower global economic growth. The US debt limit discussions are also considered important for the US and the markets in general.

There is a renewed interest by overseas investors in the local market. This has lent some support to the markets. While the US developments would still have some influence on the markets, it may only short- term volatility.

In the immediate term the market may trade sideways waiting for fresh economic data both domestic and US-centric.

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