gains

The blue chip NSE Nifty 50 index closed up 1.45 per cent at 16,871.30, while the benchmark BSE Sensex gained 1.68 per cent to end at 56,486.02

Domestic equity benchmarks continued their gains for fifth straight day as investors decided to shrug off weak global cues. The blue chip NSE Nifty 50 index closed up 1.45 per cent at 16,871.30, while the benchmark BSE Sensex gained 1.68 per cent to end at 56,486.02.

Even as the war in Central Asia gets intense and the Federal Reserve planning to hike interest rates for the first time since 2018, investors decided to continue buying in banks and IT firms.

Not only domestic indices but global markets too rose on Monday as oil prices extended last week’s decline after both Russia and Ukraine gave their most upbeat assessment yet of prospects for talks. The slide in oil prices is a positive for India in terms of containing inflation, as the country is the world’s third biggest oil importer and consumer.

“For the fifth straight day in a row, the benchmark indices continued the positive momentum as these indices successfully cleared the short term technical resistance on the charts. Banking and financials stock outperformed, rallied over two per cent, whereas some profit booking was seen in realty and metal stocks,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities.

The Nifty Bank Index gained 2.22 per cent, helped by HDFC Bank, which added 3.3 per cent after saying on Saturday that the central bank had lifted restrictions on some of its activities under its digital programme. 

Among individual stocks, digital payments company Paytm slid 12.9% after the central bank barred Paytm Payments Bank from taking on new customers and ordered a comprehensive audit of its IT systems.

“Technically, after a long time the Nifty succeed to close above 20- days SMA. It has formed bullish candle on the daily chart. We are of the view that as long as Nifty trading above 16700 the uptrend will continue in the near future. For the bulls immediate hurdle would be 17000 or 200 Day SMA. On the downside, below 16700 strong possibility of quick intraday correction on the Nifty is not ruled out. Below 16700 Nifty could retest 16620 and 16550,” said Chouhan.

Jubilant FoodWorks the Indian franchise partner of Domino’s Pizza fell as much as 12.2 per cent. Several brokerages downgraded their price target for the company after its top boss resigned on Friday.

(With inputs from Reuters)