The Nifty50 rose to a one-and-a-half month high on Tuesday, after an overnight drop in oil prices and prospects of peace talks between Russia-Ukraine bolstered investor sentiment. However, buying was largely concentrated on select heavyweights with HDFC twins contributing almost 200 points to Sensex’s gains.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market remained in negative territory, with 2,031 stocks losing value in the trade. Of the 3,518 stocks traded on the BSE, 1,396 scrips advanced whereas 91 closed without any change on Tuesday.
While the Sensex added 350.16 points or 0.61% to settle at 57,943.65 points, the broader Nifty50 gained 103.30 points to end the session at 17,325.30 points. Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices underperformed the benchmarks with each gaining 0.41% and 0.34%, respectively.
“A small positive candle was formed on the daily chart with a minor lower shadow. Technically, this pattern indicates a follow-through rise amidst a range movement. Presently, the Nifty is making an attempt to stage an upside breakout of the range movement of the last 6-7 sessions around 17,450 levels. This is a positive indication and one may expect a sharp up move in the market on the breakout of sideways range movement,” observed Nagaraj Shetti, technical research analyst at HDFC Securities. The positive sequence like higher tops and bottoms is also intact as per the daily timeframe chart, added Shetti.
The price of Brent crude, a major import for the nation, slid another 5.4% on Tuesday. The prices have corrected nearly 12% over the last two sessions, which is hovering around $106.4 a barrel. The drop in oil prices also supported the rupee and bonds on Tuesday. While the rupee gained 17 paise against the greenback to close at over a one-week high of 75.99, the yield on a 10-year government bond dropped 2 basis points (bps) to close at 6.82%.
“The rupee gained on the back of selling from exporters on the last day of spot for FY 23. With oil prices range bound and global risk sentiments stable, there were not many global cues,” said Anindya Banerjee, VP, Currency & Interest rate derivatives at Kotak Securities.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) on Tuesday bought shares worth $5 million against local investors buying $225.5 million, provisional data on bourses showed. So far in 2022, the FPIs have sold $15 billion worth of shares. In contrast, the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) have bought $13.4 billion, which helped to cushion the market. The Nifty50 has lost just 0.17% between January and now.
Shares of Eicher Motors surged the most on Nifty50, up 4.2%. That was followed by Adani Ports & SEZ, Divi’s Laboratories, JSW Steel and HDFC, each gaining over 3%. The stock of Hero MotoCorp plunged as much as 7% on the NSE after reports that the two-wheeler maker had made Rs 1,000 crore in bogus expenses. Energy, Auto and Oil & Gas indices slid on Tuesday amid worries that lockdowns in China could impact crude demand.