Sensex, Nifty end marginally up, continue gains for third day
Feb 16, 2023
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 16 : The domestic markets on Thursday ended almost flat while tracking global cues amid the country's declining trade deficit. Adani Group firms' slow recovery also helped investors gain confidence in the markets.
According to government data, the country's trade deficit of January eased to the lowest in a year at USD 17.75 billion, with a concurrent decline in imports.
The BSE Sensex went up 44.42 points and settled at 61,319.51 and NSE Nifty 50 advanced 20 points and ended at 18,035.85. The top gainers on Nifty were ONGC, Tech Mahindra, Apollo Hospital, Divis Lab and Nestle India while BPCL, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, Eicher Motors and HDFC Life were the top losers.
On BSE, Shilpa Medicare, SpiceJet and Tanla were among the most active stocks that moved up on Thursday.
Nifty IT index ended up 1.62 per cent at 31434.85 on Thursday. The index has added 7 per cent over last one month. Realty index gained 1.33 per cent.
Firms of Adani Group also recovered on Thursday. Adani Enterprises' shares gained 18 points or 1 per cent to Rs 1,796.85 apiece while Adani Port shares went up 1.57 per cent to Rs 578. Adani Green surged 1 point or 0.16 per cent to Rs 622 while Adani Power rose 7 points or 5 per cent to Rs 147.80. Adani Transmission shares lost 51 points or 5 per cent to Rs 966.60 apiece on Thursday session. The bearish grip on the firms may have lessened as Sensex and other critical indices slowly gained this week.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said, "The domestic market absorbed the buoyancy in the global market, led by IT stocks, while upstream oil companies gained as a result of the slash in windfall tax."
He said after robust jobs data, strong retail sales numbers in the US showed proof of resilience in the US economy amidst concerns over elevated inflation numbers. "However, the gains were capped by worries that a stronger economy would attract a tighter monetary policy," he added.
