Stock market rally: Indian equity markets witnessed renewed buying interest on Wednesday, March 29, with gains seen across counters. The BSE Sensex climbed as much as 992 points, or 1.29 per cent, to 77,879, while the NSE Nifty added 303 points, or 1.26 per cent, to 24,298 during intraday trade.
At 11:33 AM, the BSE Sensex was quoted at 77,786, up 899 points, or 1.17 per cent, while the NSE Nifty 50 was trading higher by 283 points, or 1.18 per cent, at 24,279.
In the broader market, gains were led by small-cap stocks. The Nifty Smallcap 100 index was up 1.20 per cent. Among individual stocks, Bandhan Bank, Tenneco Clean Air, and Garden Reach Shipbuilders led the gains, rising up to 12 per cent. The Nifty Midcap 100 index, meanwhile, advanced 0.85 per cent, supported by buying in Godfrey Phillips India, Vodafone Idea, and IndusInd Bank, which gained up to 6 per cent.
The positive sentiment was also reflected across sectoral counters, with all NSE sectoral indices trading in the green. Gains were led by auto, IT, banking, and FMCG stocks, which rose over up to 2 per cent. CATCH STOCK MARKET UPDATES LIVE
Why are Sensex, and Nifty rising today?
Analysts attribute the rally to better-than-expected quarterly earnings and supportive high-frequency data, which have strengthened expectations of a strong Q4 performance.
“The results that have been coming have been better than expectations. And therefore, the market is expecting better results going by the quarterly data. I’m not talking about the results, but the quarterly data regarding credit growth, tobacco consumption, cigarette consumption; all these things have been strong,” said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist, Geojit Investments.
Echoing a similar view, Sunny Agarwal, head of fundamental research at SBI Securities, said that markets have largely discounted concerns around the West Asia crisis and are not reacting significantly to elevated oil prices. However, any moderation in oil prices, he said, would be positive for economies such as India.
Here are the other key reasons why the Indian Stock markets are trading higher today:
Auto stocks lead sectoral gains
The Nifty Auto index led the gains among the sectoral indices on the NSE, rising 2.26 per cent to 26,372 levels. Among its constituent stocks, Maruti Suzuki India led the pack with a 5 per cent gain. Bharat Forge, M&M, Exide Industries, and Eicher Motors also advanced over 2 per cent each.
“Today’s rally in the auto stocks is also driven by positive commentary from the management of Maruti Suzuki India, which has forecast growth for FY27 after announcing its FY26 results yesterday.”
IT sector sees renewed buying
Buying in information technology companies also supported the broader market rally. The Nifty IT index rose 1.64 per cent to 29,434 levels. Except for L&T, which was down 0.33 per cent, all other nine constituents were in the green, led by Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Mphasis, and TCS, which gained up to 3 per cent.
Vijayakumar noted that the sharp correction in IT stocks has made valuations attractive. The Nifty IT index remains nearly 27 per cent below its peak.
“Of course, the projected growth rate in IT stocks will be 2–3 per cent in FY27. When an industry is growing only 2–3 per cent, there is no point in giving a very high P/E. But then valuations have come down to rock-bottom levels, and these are companies with a very long track record and a very high dividend yield. So at low levels, some bottom fishing must be happening there,” he said.
Buying in index heavyweights support sentiment
Buying in index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Mahindra & Mahindra, and ITC further strengthened sentiment. Reliance Industries, the country’s largest company by market capitalisation, rose 2.46 per cent.
Among others, M&M gained 3.30 per cent, Bharti Airtel advanced 2.28 per cent, while ITC rose 2.17 per cent.
Vijayakumar added that the rally in ITC is being driven by expectations of stronger-than-expected results and improved sales.
Technical view
According to Anand James, chief market strategist, Geojit Investments, despite the turn lower from the 24,140 region, all the subsequent hourly candles ended with long lower wicks on Tuesday, April 28. This, James said, “points to the possibility of coming out of the bearish structure, potentially eyeing 24,350–470 initially.”
Alternatively, inability to float above the 24,050 region, James believes, could keep alive the threat of a 23,500 down-move.
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