Nifty may rally to 5,365 and thereafter to 5,400. Watch previous day’s lows for signs of a reversal

The market closed higher for the second day in a row amid highly volatile trade. The Indian market will see a truncated week with the bourses remaining closed on Thursday and Friday for local holidays. On the lowest volume of 58.35 crore shares in the past 20 trading session (including today) on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the Nifty made a positive move and hit a seven-day intraday high of 5,332 today. We had mentioned in our Friday's closing report that if the benchmark manages making a higher high and stays above 5,290, we may see an upmove to the level of 5,365, and then up to 5,400. We continue to maintain this.

The market opened flat despite positive global cues and institutional buying support. The Nifty opened unchanged at 5,296 and the Sensex started the day at 17,430, up 26 points above its previous close.

Select buying soon lifted the indices higher but choppiness saw the market fluctuate in the positive terrain. But profit booking soon saw the benchmarks drift lower and touch the day's low just after 10.30am. At the lows, the Nifty touched 5,279 and the Sensex went back to 17,382.

However, buying in capital goods, banks, realty and power stocks helped the market see a staggered upmove to hit its intraday high in noon trade. At that point, the Nifty rose to 5,332 and the Sensex touched 17,530.

Selling pressure at higher levels resulted in the indices paring their gains in subsequent trade. The market closed higher for the second day with the Nifty gaining 22 points to 5,318 and the Sensex finishing trade at 17,478, up 74 points.

The advance-decline ratio on the NSE was positive at 1065:389.

The broader indices outperformed the Sensex today as the BSE Mid-cap index gained 1.08% and the BSE Small Cap index climbed 1.68%.

BSE Consumer Durables (up 3.89%); BSE Power (up 1.89%), BSE Capital Goods (up 1.74%); BSE Realty (up 1.59%) and BSE Bankex (up 1.02%) were the top gainers in the sectoral space. BSE Oil & Gas (down 0.28%); BSE Metal (down 0.27%); BSE Healthcare (down 0.13%) and BSE Auto (down 0.06%) settled lower.

The Sensex was led by DLF (up 2.88%); NTPC (up 2.74%); TCS (up 2.01%); Larsen & Toubro (up 1.96%) and Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.66%). The key losers were Bajaj Auto (down 1.45%); Hindalco Industries (down 1.39%); Sterlite Industries (down 1.26%); Reliance Industries (down 1%) and Hindustan Unilever (down 0.98%).

The key performers on the Nifty were Jaiprakash Associates (up 4.65%); Reliance Infrastructure (up 4.60%); Reliance Power 4.23%); HCL Technologies (up 3.86%) and NTPC (up 3.23%). The laggards were Ranbaxy Laboratories (down 2.64%); BPCL (down 1.66%); Bajaj Auto (down 1.47%); Sterlite Ind (down 1.31%) and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (down 1.29%).

Better-than-expected manufacturing output data from China helped markets in Asia settle higher. China's official PMI (Purchasing Managers' Index) jumped to an 11-month high of 53.1 in March, up from February's 51.

The Jakarta Composite climbed 1.08%; the KLSE Composite gained 0.47%; the Nikkei 225 rose 0.26%; the Straits Times added 0.19% and the Seoul Composite surged 0.76%. On the other hand, the Hang Seng fell by 0.16% and the Taiwan Weighted dropped 0.88%. Shanghai Composite, the Chinese benchmark was closed for trade today. At the time of writing, the key European indices were mixed while the US stocks futures were marginally higher.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares totalling Rs962.65 crore while domestic institutional investors were net sellers of shares amounting to Rs167.32 crore on Friday.

Tile manufacturer Kajaria Ceramics today said its board has approved acquisition of 51% stake in Andhra-Pradesh based Vennar Ceramics for up to Rs13.65 crore. The acquisition will help Kajaria to cater to the southern markets from Veenar’s new plant enabling the company to reduce the transit time for delivery of goods and savings in transportation costs. Kajaria closed 0.94% lower at Rs168.50 on the NSE.

Pharma major Strides Arcolab today said it has received approval from the Canadian health regulator for antibiotic tobramycin injection used for treating bacterial infections. The approval was granted under the expedited review process being adopted by Health Canada to address the severe drug shortage situation in the country. The stock surged 2.45% to close at Rs601.20 on the NSE today.

In a first instance of the government allowing an actual user from private sector to import gold directly, Tata Group firm Titan Industries has been given nod to bring the yellow metal from overseas market. This will open the doors to other actual users from the private sector to import gold directly under approval route, a commerce ministry official said. The stock jumped 6.50% on the NSE.