Markets upbeat amid hopes of a rate cut, Nifty reclaims 11K after 4 months

Benchmark indices rose for a fifth straight session on Monday on hopes of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and supported by positive global cues.

The Nifty reclaimed the 11,000-mark for the first time since October 1. The 50-share index ended the session 11,062, gaining 1.2 per cent over its previous close. The Sensex gained 358 points, or 0.98 per cent, to close at 36,975. The index touched an intra-day high of 37,005.

Strong buying by both domestic and foreign institutional investors was seen on Wednesday. Foreign portfolio investors bought shares worth Rs 694 crore and domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 525 crores.

Market players said investors were hoping the RBI changes its monetary policy stance to ‘neutral’ from ‘calibrated tightening’ at its first policy meeting under new governor Shaktikanta Das.

In the Sensex pack, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, ONGC, Bajaj Auto, and ICICI Bank were the biggest gainers. Meanwhile, Axis Bank and IndusInd Bank were the only two stocks to end with losses. Barring two, all the sectoral indexes of the BSE ended with gains. The BSE Metal index rose the most at 2.4 per cent.

“Since November, the Nifty has been consolidating in the broad range of 10,500- 11,000 range. Today, it broke this range on the upside. Following the breakout, we could see follow up buying,” said Hitesh Agarwal, head (retail research) at Religare Securities. Market participants, however, cautioned that volatility is going to persist in the Indian markets for the next few months.  

“Volatility will continue to persist. We may not see much downside, but it will remain volatile given a lot of events which are lined up domestically and globally," said Siddhartha Khemka, vice president, Motilal Oswal Financial Services. The general elections, global developments, and the quarterly earnings will determine the market direction in the coming days, Khemka added.