Sensex Surges 500 Points, Nifty Hits Record High

Mumbai, Feb 22 (PTI) Stocks staged a strong recovery on Thursday, with Nifty notching up a fresh all-time high and Sensex surging over 500 points as investors went on a buying spree in IT, technology and automobile stocks.

After volatility persisted for most part of the session, the benchmark indices rebounded in the last one hour of trading amid improving domestic macroeconomic indicators and positive global cues, including impressive earnings from the US technology space.

The 30-share benchmark Sensex soared 535.15 points or 0.74 per cent to close at 73,158.24 points. As many as 22 Sensex constituents closed in the positive territory and the index touched an intra-day high of 73,256.39 points.

The broader Nifty climbed 162.40 points or 0.74 per cent to hit its highest-ever closing level of 22,217.45 points.

During intraday trade, the index touched the peak of 22,252.50 points and 25 Nifty constituents ended the session with gains.

Nifty recorded its previous lifetime peak at 22,196.95 points on February 20.

"The domestic market staged a recovery from the day's low, buoyed by positive PMI data from the Eurozone and an impressive earnings report from US tech stocks.

"The broader market showed resilience as India's economic activity continued to expand in February, with both service and manufacturing PMI improving. Consequently, it resulted in outperformance in discretionary stocks and capital goods," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said.

BSE midcap index gained 0.92 per cent, largecap index climbed 0.81 per cent and smallcap index rose 0.54 per cent.

In the Sensex pack, HCLTech rose the maximum by 3.12 per cent, followed by ITC which gained 2.73 per cent and M&M went up 2.61 per cent. TCS climbed 2.44 per cent.

Bellwether auto stock Maruti gained 1.79 per cent, while Tata Motors rose 1.20 per cent.

Tech Mahindra, Wipro, L&T and Maruti were among the other major gainers.

"Nifty made a fresh record high on February 22 negating the bearish development of the previous session. It could now proceed towards 22,280 and later 22,810. On falls, it could take support at 22,011. Participants remain unsure about the direction of the market due to sharp intraday movements in the markets on either side," Deepak Jasani, Head Retail Research at HDFC Securities, said.

Among sectoral indices, BSE Auto gained the maximum by 1.85 per cent, followed by IT which rose by 1.83 per cent and Capital Goods which went up by 1.80 per cent.

BSE Teck rose 1.59 per cent, while industrials climbed 1.50 per cent and power ended 1.38 per cent higher.

However, stocks of all major banks closed in the red with IndusInd Bank falling 1.87 per cent, HDFC Bank dropped 1.28 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank declined 1.11 per cent and SBI slipped 0.73 per cent.

BSE Bankex was the only index that ended with a marginal loss of 0.04 per cent.

"We are witnessing the banks trading at higher valuations than their historical median barring two large banks; HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

"The sharp correction in these two banks led to valuation comfort and earning upgrades is likely to bring investor sentiment back. Hence, we are optimistic on HDFC Bank with a current valuation of around 2.7x Price to book," Ajit Kabi, Research Analyst at LKP Securities, said.

In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 surged more than 2 per cent to all-time high to hit its 1,989 level. Hang Seng of Hong Kong and China's Shanghai Composite also ended with sharp gains.

European stocks were also mostly trading in the green.

On Wednesday, US stocks finished mostly higher after minutes of the US Federal Reserve's January meeting showed most policymakers were concerned about the risks of cutting interest rates early.

Sensex and Nifty on Wednesday snapped their six-day winning streak and closed in the red. While Sensex fell 434.31 points to close at 72,623.09 points, Nifty declined 141.90 points to end the day at 22,055.05 points.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers on Wednesday as they purchased securities worth Rs 284.66 crore.