Market

Sensex, Nifty end at 3-month highs, market gains for 7th consecutive session

Updated : December 19, 2018 04:08 PM IST

ITC, HDFC and Axis Bank were the top contributors to gains.

IT stocks underperformed as rupee gained past 70 against the US dollar in the opening hour of trade.

The Indian equity market on Tuesday ended higher continuing its upward movement for the seventh straight session benefitting from the fall in crude oil prices. The 30-share benchmark BSE Sensex moved 117 points higher to close at 36,464, and the broader NSE Nifty, surged 58 points to 10,967 to end the session at nearly 3-month highs.

ITC, HDFC and Axis Bank were the top contributors to gains, while IT stocks underperformed as rupee gained past 70 against the US dollar in the opening hour of trade.

In the broader markets, Nifty Midcap index saw a gain of 230 points to 17,968 with market breadth in favour of advances with the NSE Advance-Decline ratio at 2:1. The banking major, Nifty bank surged 124 points to 27,298 with 70 percent of gains coming in from Axis Bank.

Public sector banks moved higher on reports of government looking at an additional Rs 40,000 crore recapitalization bonds in FY19. Shares of Allahabad Bank, Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra surged 4-10 percent after a government official comment that these banks likely will come out of prompt corrective action.

Oil marketing companies of Indian Oil Corp. (IOC), Bharat Petroluem Corp. ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. ltd (HPCL) gained 1-2 percent as Brent crude oil prices slipped below the $57 per barrel mark. The Nymex traded below $47 per barrel.

In the derivatives space, Nifty 11,000 Call option shed 4.5 lakh shares in the open interest with premium surging 26 percent, while Nifty 10,800 Put option added 2.5 lakh shares in the open interest with premium slipping 28 percent. Nifty December Futures closed with a premium of 15 points against a premium of 26 points on Tuesday.

Asian stocks were mixed on Wednesday ahead of the outcome of the two-day policy meet of the US Federal Reserve. The widely anticipated trading debut of SoftBank Corp., the mobile unit of Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group, ended in disappointment. The company's shares closed 14.5 percent lower than its initial public offering (IPO) price of 1,500 yen ($13.36). It was the most heavily-traded stock on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

SoftBank Corp's 2.65 trillion yen ($23.6 billion) IPO was the largest ever in Japan, and the second-largest in the world behind Alibaba's $25 billion IPO in 2014.

In the broader Japanese market, the Nikkei 225 finished the day 0.6 percent to 20,987.92, and the Topix closed 0.41 percent down to 1,556.15.

Greater China markets were mixed. The Shanghai composite ended the day 1.05 percent lower at 2,549.56, and the Shenzhen composite fell by 1.37 percent at the close to 1,294.48. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was 0.2 percent higher.

The Australia Index ASX 200 slipped 0.16 percent to 5,580.6. South Korean stocks, meanwhile, ended the session higher with the Kospi index rising 0.81 percent to 2,078.84.