Nifty ends on higher note; settles above 22100 mark

27 Mar 2024 Evaluate

Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended Wednesday’s trading session with over half a percent gains on account of buying in Reliance Industries, Maruti Suzuki and Axis Bank companies’ stocks. Index made an optimistic start, as sentiments got boost with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stating that India's current account deficit declined to $10.5 billion or 1.2 per cent of the GDP in October-December quarter of current fiscal from $11.4 billion in the previous three months and $16.8 billion a year back. Besides, some support also came in as Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran said various initiatives from the government and growing investment are going to create more job opportunities during the decade.

In afternoon session, index extended its gains to trade near day’s high point, as traders took support with Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) of India stating that India's engineering exports to Russia doubled to $1.22 billion till February during the 2023-24 fiscal. It said the shipments to the country stood at $616.68 million in the previous fiscal. Traders also took a note of Fitch Ratings’ report that the profitability of Indian banks is likely to continue to improve, although net interest margin (NIM) compression will limit earnings upside over the medium term. It also said banks’ rising funding costs are likely to remain an important factor driving NIMs, but it is expected that earnings will be resilient despite the sector’s dependence on net interest income, which contributed 75 per cent of total operating income in the first nine months of the financial year ending March 2024. At the end, index came off day’s high point, but ended in positive terrain with gains of 118.95 points.

Traders were seen piling up positions in Realty, Consumer Durables and OIL & GAS stocks, while selling was witnessed in PSU BANK, IT and Media. The top gainers from the F&O segment were ABB India, Metropolis Healthcare and Info Edge (India). On the other hand, the top losers Colgate-Palmolive (India), REC and Power Finance Corporation. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 22400 - 22600 calls and 21900 - 22100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.