Domestic equity benchmarks the Sensex and the Nifty ended in the green on March 21, supported by shares of banking and financial heavyweights, amid positive global cues as investors digested the rescue of global investment bank Credit Suisse.
UBS will soon become the new owner of Credit Suisse.
As reported by Mint, Switzerland's regulators led a mega deal between UBS and Credit Suisse to restore the lost confidence in the Swiss economy and banking sector due to contagion fear. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2023. UBS will acquire Credit Suisse for CHF 3 billion (approximately $3.25 billion).
Following healthy gains in the major global markets, Sensex closed 446 points, or 0.77 percent, higher at 58,074.68 while the Nifty ended at 17,107.50, up 119 points, or 0.70 percent.
Mid and smallcaps also ended in the positive territory. The BSE Midcap index rose 0.66 percent while the Smallcap index ended with a gain of 0.50 percent.
The overall market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms rose to ₹256.9 lakh crore from ₹255.4 lakh crore, making investors richer by ₹1.5 lakh crore in a single session.
Shares of Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, HDFC twins and Axis Bank ended as the top contributors to the gains in the Sensex index.
Crude oil prices saw some gains as the market sentiment improved. Brent Crude traded about a percent higher near the $75 per barrel mark.
The rupee slipped 3 paise to close at 82.67 per dollar, Bloomberg data showed.
Top Nifty gainers: Shares of HDFC Life Insurance Company (up 3.82 percent), Reliance Industries (up 3.21 percent) and Bajaj Finance (up 2.89 percent) ended as the top gainers in the Nifty index.
Top Nifty losers: Shares of Power Grid Corporation (down 1.93 percent), Hindustan Unilever (down 1.88 percent) and Britannia Industries (down 1.50 percent) ended as the top losers in the Nifty pack.
Among the 50 stocks in the index, 26 advanced and 24 declined.
Bank, financial services, oil & gas and consumer durables shine
Most banking, financial services, oil & gas and consumer durables stocks gained, giving a boost to their sectoral indices.
The Nifty Bank index rose 1.35 percent. Nifty PSU Bank (up 1.65 percent), Consumer Durables (up 1.48 percent), Financial Services (up 1.46 percent), Private Bank (up 1.44 percent), Oil & Gas (up 1.27 percent) and Media (up 1.23 percent) ended with healthy gains.
On the flip side, Nifty IT and FMCG indices fell up to a percent.
Experts' views on markets
Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail) at Kotak Securities pointed out that global markets' recovery ushered in gains in domestic equity indices as both the benchmarks ended above the psychological levels on the back of strong gains in financials.
However, the optimism may face hurdles as the recent turmoil in large banks in the US and Europe has shaken investors' sentiment, Chouhan observed.
"The US FOMC meeting on Wednesday on interest rate decision would be keenly eyed as any hike surpassing street expectations could unsettle investors. Also, falling crude oil prices at a faster pace are raising concerns over the weakening global economic health," said Chouhan.
Mitul Shah, Head of Research at Reliance Securities underscored that the markets will closely follow global cues and the developments in the US and European banking systems while all eyes will be on the US Fed monetary policy meeting and its interest rate decision due tomorrow.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services pointed out that gaining buoyancy from a slew of measures to shield the banking sector, global markets witnessed recovery ahead of the US Fed policy announcement on Wednesday.
Nair said the momentum was passed onto domestic equities, which were led by large-cap banks. However, the gains were capped by IT stocks on caution over muted deal wins from the BFSI segment in the western markets.
Technical views on markets
Jatin Gedia, Technical Research Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas underscored the Nifty opened on a positive note and consolidated during the first half of the trading session. Buying interest emerged during the second half of the session which helped the Nifty to close around the highs for the day.
Gedia expects the positive momentum to continue over the next few trading sessions.
"On the hourly charts, we can observe positive divergence along with a positive crossover on the momentum indicator which indicates loss of momentum on the downside and shall provide speed to the current pullback. On the upside, we expect the Nifty to target the zone of 17,150 -17,200 which coincides with the previous swing high and the 38.2 percent Fibonacci retracement level of the fall from 17,800 – 16,828. The immediate support stands at the lower end of the downward-sloping channel 16,800 – 16,850," said Gedia.
Key market data
Disclaimer: The views and recommendations given in this article are those of individual analysts. These do not represent the views of MintGenie.
