S&P BSE Sensex and 50-share Nifty rose for the third-straight day, extending gains made post the budget announcements. While the 30-stock Sensex gained 353.28 or 0.87 per cent to close the day’s trade at 41,142 points, while Nifty 50 ended the day 110.60 points or 0.94 per cent at 12,090 points. The markets were helped by the services industry that accelerated to a 7-year high in January, raising hopes of an economic recovery.

21 of the 30 stocks on Sensex gained on Wednesday led by Tata Steel that jumped 5.14 per cent to end the day at Rs 475.30, while Bharti Airtel despite reporting losses in the third quarter jumped 2.77 per cent. Among the losers were Maruti down by 2.25 per cent and Hero Moto corp down 3.55 per cent.

On the broader Nifty 50 index, the gains were led by Tata Motors as the company shined during the auto expo 2020, jumping by 10.68 per cent. Private sector lender Yes Bank gained by 8.58 per cent as news of Yes Bank roping in former Deutsche Bank Co-CEO, Anshu Jain made the rounds. Reportedly Jain has been hired by the bank to ramp up its efforts to secure funds after rejecting an offer of $1.2 billion made by Canadian investor Erwin Singh Braich.

RBI’s bi-monthly monetary policy’s committee ends its three-day meet tomorrow. Markets are already factoring in that central bank will most likely maintain the status quo on interest rates.

Here’s what analysts have to say on what moved the markets today:

Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Analyst, HDFC securities-
The sharp follow-through upmove continued in the Nifty, as the market gained around 0.90% in today’s session. A long bull candle was formed today, that has surpassed decisively above the resistance at 11960 levels (uptrend line resistance, connecting previous higher highs-as per the concept of change in polarity).

Normally, such complete negation of a sharp downside breakout of crucial trend line could be a positive indication for the underlying. The Nifty is expected to move up and challenge the next hurdle at 12272 (swing high of 24th Jan) in the next few sessions.

Amit Shah, Technical Research Analyst with Indiabulls Ventures Ltd.
Bulls push the index further as some positive news flow on Coronavirus antidote doing the rounds. Market breadth was on the positive note as mid & small caps were buzzing. Index has bounced back sharply from the 200 Ema support zone. Expect index to remain in a range of 11,750-12,100 in the near term. 12,100 is likely to act as a resistance zone and may not be breached on a sustainable basis at least in the first go, Though the undertone for the Nifty is likely to remain positive.
Support: 11,800-11,600 & Resistance: 12,100-12,250

Banknifty too has bounced back sharply from the 200 Ema support zone. A breach above 31,450 will confirm the failure of the bearish pattern and would mean the development of a further bullish scenario. Immediate support on the downside is placed at 30,550 zone. Expect the undertone to remain bullish in the near term, though near term consolidation for few sessions cannot be ruled out after a recent sharp rise.

Ajit Mishra, VP – Research, Religare Broking Ltd.
The Indian markets gained further momentum in Wednesday’s session buoyed by improving sentiments across the global markets. The Nifty index crossed the crucial 12,000 mark and ended higher by 0.9% at 12,089 (up 110 points). The broader markets- BSE-Midcap and BSE-Smallcap too ended higher by 1.2% and 0.6% respectively. Most of the sectoral indices witnessed healthy buying interest and Realty, Metal and Capital Goods were the highest gainers in the range of 1.7-2.2%

Further, global cues are looking positive as there is a hope of further stimulus by the Chinese government to support the economy, which is currently grappling with coronavirus. However, given the recent run up in the benchmarks despite the earnings season being a mixed bag so far, markets may consolidate going forward.