Sensex rises 483 points, Nifty at 9,313 as oil prices attempt recovery

Domestic benchmarks climbed to day's high, with Sensex and Nifty rising to 31,959 and 9,343, backed by strong overseas markets that rose amid a recovery in crude prices.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures bounced back to green territory and traded 8.89% higher at $22.18 per barrel

Sensex and Nifty closed on a bullish note on Thursday, amid positive cues from global counterparts that rallied on oil prices rebounding from recently incurred losses.

While Sensex closed 483 points higher at 31,863, NSE 50-share index Nifty rose 126 points to 9,313.

ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank, TCS, Infosys were among the top gainers. On the other hand, Titan, M&M, Maruti, PowerGrid, Tech Mahindra and HDFC Bank were among the laggards.

In sectoral terms, barring FMCG and PSU Pharma, all other sectors closed in the green. IT gained 4%, while banking and financials ended 2-3% higher.

Bucking the bullish trend, European markets opened in red today, though CAC index recovered later to trade marginally higher. Meanwhile, US DOW futures were trading lower since early morning and fell 45 points or 0.21% lower at 23,209 by today's closing session.

SGX Nifty also ended at 1.5% or 140 points higher at 9,306. Except for Shanghai and Strait Times, all the other Asian indices ended in the green. Asian stocks edged higher, tracking gains on Wall Street, as investors took some comfort from earnings reports and signs the coronavirus outbreak was easing, with oil prices rebounding.

US stocks had closed higher as a rally in US oil prices, better-than-expected US corporate earnings and promise of more US government aid kept market sentiment positive. Investors were optimistic over slowing of new virus cases, with death toll slowing down in countries considered corona hotspots.

Earlier in the opening session, markets opened flat, accompanying SGX Nifty overseas, although gained momentum within few minutes of trade.

Domestic benchmarks climbed to day's high, with Sensex and Nifty rising to 31,959 and 9,343, backed by strong overseas markets that rose amid a recovery in crude prices.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures bounced back to green territory and traded 8.89% higher at $22.18 per barrel.

Tracking rally in Asian counterparts currencies and a positive trend in domestic equity indices, Rupee gained 60 paise to close at 76.07 per dollar as against the last close at a record low of 76.67 per US dollar.

Amid the lockdown-led uncertainty, market regulator SEBI has relaxed buyback norms, where listed companies can raise capital after 6 months. This has been reduced from the earlier restriction of 1-year expiry of the buyback period, for companies to not raise further capital.

Expressing views over today's market trend, S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities said, "Market rose today led by Banking & IT heavyweights. The relaxation in fundraising for corporates by SEBI due to the Pandemic also lifted street sentiments today".

Commenting on Nifty's technical outlook, Manav Chopra, CMT, Head Research - Equity, Indiabulls Securities said,"Nifty was up by over a hundred points and market breadth was on a positive side. Overall markets have remained in a range between 8,900-9,400. We continue to remain contrarian bearish and believe there is likely to be limited upside beyond 9,500 levels.the next bigger move is likely to happen on the downside and we do expect a retest of lows of 7,500 zone from a broader perspective. 8,850 remains key level on the downside below which index is likely to weaken and resumption of downtrend likely."