Nifty will hit a resistance on Monday but if it manages to close above 5970, the rally may continue

The market closed in the positive for the fourth day in a row on gain in oil & gas, FMCG, metal and banking stocks. Positive global cues supported the sentiments. Nifty will hit a resistance on Monday but if it manages to close above 5970, the rally may continue. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw a volume of 68.53 crore shares and advance-decline ratio of 985:521.

The domestic market opened in the green on signs that the global economy is picking up. US markets closed higher on Thursday people filing for unemployment benefits fell last week to a seasonally adjusted 340,000, marking the second week of decline. Markets in Asia were in the positive in morning trade on firm economic indicators from across the region and from the US.

The Nifty opened 21 points at 5,884 and the Sensex resumed trade at 19,479, up 65 points over its previous close. Touching their intraday lows in initial trade, the Nifty stood at 5,883 and the Sensex was at 19,478.

Buying interest in oil & gas, consumer durables, PSU and metal stocks boosted the momentum in early trade. However, the benchmarks pared a small part of their gains and were seen sideways in the morning session.

The government today sought Parliament’s not to spend an additional Rs49,715.54 crore mainly to meet the outgo on fuel, fertiliser and food subsidies in the current financial year. The announcement led to a surge in PSU oil stocks.

A higher opening of the European indices on growth optimism helped the domestic indices extend their gains in post-non trade. Sustained gains in oil & gas, fast moving consumer, goods, metal and banking stocks led the benchmarks to their intraday highs in the last half hour.  At this point the Nifty touched 5,953 and the Sensex climbed to 19,706.

The market closed marginally off the highs, making it the fourth day of gains. The Nifty settled 82 points (1.41%) higher at 5,946 and the Sensex jumped 270 points (1.39%) to finish trade at 19,683.
 
Markets in Asia, with the exception of the Shanghai Composite and Straits Times, closed in the green on positive economic data. Revised fourth-quarter GDP figures from Japan showed the economy slowly stabilizing after two quarters of recession. A 21.8% increase in Chinese exports in February against a 15.2% fall in imports, was also seen as a positive sign.

The Hang Seng surged 1.41%; the Jakarta Composite gained 0.54%; the KLSE Composite rose 0.18%; the Nikkei 225 jumped 2.64%; the Seoul Composite added 0.08% and the Taiwan Weighted advanced 0.69%. Bucking the trend, the Shanghai Composite declined 0.24% and the Straits Times fell 0.22%.

At the time of writing, among European markets the CAC 40 was up 0.97%; the DAX of Germany rose 0.57% and UK’s FTSE 100 was up 0.38%. At the same time, the US stock futures were in the green, indicating a positive for the US markets later in the day.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of stocks totalling Rs630.47 crore on Thursday. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors were net sellers of equities amounting to Rs715.11 crore.