Sensex surges over 400 points, Nifty above 12,200; key reasons behind rally

The benchmark equity indices ended on a higher note Friday led by gains in banking stocks and HDFC twins amid positive global cues. Sensex rallied 411.38 points to end at 41,575.14, while Nifty soared 119.25 points to 12,245.80. SBI was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, followed by PowerGrid, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries (RIL), Maruti and HDFC twins. On the other hand, TCS was the top loser, followed by Tata Steel, HUL, HCL Tech, Bajaj Auto and Tech Mahindra. In the previous session, the 30-share gauge ended 297.50 points, or 0.72 per cent, lower at 41,163.76. Similarly, the Nifty closed 88 points, or 0.72 per cent, down at 12,126.55.

The PSU Bank index traded higher ahead of a meeting between the Finance Minister and chiefs of public sector banks for Saturday. The market is also expecting the public lenders to gain from the lower yields on government bonds after the RBI, on Thursday, said in a notification that it will buy 10-year bonds worth Rs 10,000 crore simultaneously sell four bonds maturing in 2020 for up to the same amount on December 30 in the open market. The central bank conducted a similar operation earlier this week.

“The NIFTY is now again near the 12300 level which continues to remain a strong overhead resistance. It would be critical to see if the up move that was seen today is just a technical move after the throwback, or it is actually a resumption of the rally. It can be said that the rally has resumed only if the NIFTY moves past 12300 on a closing basis. Until that happens, the traders should keep protecting profits at higher levels…” Milan Vaishnav, CMT, MSTA, Consulting Technical Analyst, Gemstone Equity Research & Advisory Services told Financial Express Online.

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Meanwhile, the foreign institutional investors sold equities, on a net basis, worth Rs 504 crore. The domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 120 crore on Thursday, the exchange data showed.