Sensex Jumps Over 300 Points, Nifty Above 11,300 On Monsoon Hopes

The domestic stock markets extended their gains on Friday after the Met department forecast a recovery in monsoon in August and September. By 1:55 pm, the Sensex surged 327.31 points or 0.88 per cent to 37,492.47 while the Nifty50 traded at 11,331.30 with a gain of 86.60 points or 0.77 per cent. The top gainers in the 30-share Sensex pack were Axis Bank (up 3.61 per cent), Vedanta (up 3.25 per cent), YES Bank (up 2.74 per cent), Coal India (up 2.56 per cent), and ICICI Bank (up 2.46 per cent).  

Infosys, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Axis Bank and Reliance Industries contributed to the gains in the Sensex.

"Good monsoons, GST cuts and strong quarterly earnings will push the markets upwards," news agency Reuters quoted Rahul Sharma, a senior research analyst with Equity99, as saying. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said earlier in the day that the rainfall as a whole during the second half of the season was likely to be 95 per cent of a long period average.

Broader markets outperformed benchmark indices as the BSE Smallcap and BSE Midcap indices gained 1.12 per cent and 0.90 per cent respectively.

Thirty-three out of 50 Nifty stocks advanced in trade. All sectoral indices of the National Stock exchange traded in the green, led by metals, banks and financial stocks.

"The intermediate trend line support (for the Nifty) is placed near 11,200, in the proximity of 38.2 per cent Fibonacci retracement of the previous bull move. So traders can go long near 11,200," said Dyaneshwar Padwal, AVP Technical Analyst, KIFS Trade Capital. Fibonacci retracement is a tool used by technical analysts in which 23.6 per cent, 38.2 per cent, 50 per cent, 61.8 per cent and 100 per cent are key ratios.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks were steady, with gains from the tech-led rise on Wall Street capped by the latest exchange of trade threats between Beijing and Washington, while safe haven flows lifted the dollar to a two-week high, according to a report from news agency Reuters.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched down 0.03 per cent. Japan's Nikkei added 0.25 per cent and South Korea's KOSPI edged up 0.32 per cent, drawing some support from overnight gains by US stocks.

In overnight trade, technology stocks pushed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq higher on Thursday, driven by Apple shares as the iPhone maker became the first publicly traded US company worth a trillion dollars.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 7.66 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 25,326.16, the S&P 500 gained 13.86 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 2,827.22 and the Nasdaq Composite added 95.40 points, or 1.24 per cent, to 7,802.69.

On Thursday, the Sensex closed 356 points lower at 37,165, while the NSE Nifty settled 101 points down at 11,244. (With Reuters inputs)