Sensex, Nifty Log Best Day In A Week Ahead Of Fed Rate Decision

India's stock benchmarks logged best day in a week ahead of U.S. Federal Reserve's rate decision, in which Jerome Powell is likely to dial in 25bps hike to check the surge in inflation. Metals, realty, banking and information technology stocks led the surge as moderation in crude prices aided sentiment.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 1.86% (equivalent of 1,040 points) to 56,816.65. The 30-stock gauge rose 1.94% to an intraday high of 56,860.89.

The NSE Nifty 50 also advanced by similar magnitude to 16,975.35. This is the best close for the 50-stock gauge in three weeks since Feb. 23.

UltraTech Cement Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 4.7%. Today, 46 of 50 shares rose, while 4 fell.

The S&P BSE MidCap almost mirrored Sensex and Nifty while the S&P BSE SmallCap underperformed, rising 1.5%. All the 19 sectoral indices compiled by BSE Ltd. advanced with S&P BSE Realty, Metal, Basic Materials, Finance, Auto, Bankex, Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas and Teck indices gaining over 2%.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of bulls. About 2,308 stocks advanced, 1,125 declined and 101 remained unchanged.

"Nifty has staged a strong recover with a combination of value and momentum. We expect the uptrend to sustain for the medium term. The March series expect limited downside with resistance placed at 17200-17300 levels; on the downside support is seen at 16500-16600 levels", Sahaj Agrawal, Head of Research - Derivatives at Kotak Securities in a note, and added, "buying on Dips is advisable with focus on Cement, NBFC and Consumption space. Metals are expected to consolidate with high volatility".

Shares of information technology stocks rallied ahead of global tech giant Accenture's Q2 earnings before market open on March 17.

Source: Bloomberg

Nomura on Infosys

• Maintains 'buy' with the taget price set at Rs 2,440, an implied return of 28.98%

• Strong demand environment for I.T. services visibler.

• Company's focus on digital offering, re-skilling employees, large deals and cloud offerings have aided rapid revenue growth.

• Company's capital allocation policy continue to remain discipline

• Infosys is the top pick in the largecap Indian I.T. Services space

• Macrotech Developers Ltd. informed that the credit rating of the USD Senior notes, issued by its subsidiary Lodha Developers International Ltd. has been upgraded to B2 with positive outlook by Moody's Investors Service.

• Shares of Macrotech Developers rose 4.92%, the biggest intraday gain in a week.

Source: Exchange Filing