Sensex recovers 61k, Nifty surpasses 18k; bullish trend to continue

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 28 : The indices of the domestic equity markets extended gains for the seventh consecutive session on Friday, tracking strong global cues as well as stronger corporate earnings. The trend of ending in the green had continued from last week's Thursday. Slowly and steadily, the stocks have been gaining ground.
The weakness in the US dollar has once again made Indian and other emerging equity markets lucrative for foreign institutional investors. It is expected that Nifty index to go up to over 18,400 levels by the end of May 2023. Experts feel that the continued recovery in other key sectors like energy and IT pack would be critical to maintain the momentum.
On Friday, BSE Sensex gained 463 points and settled at 61,112.44 while NSE Nifty rose 150 points to settle at 18,065.
Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, Britannia, Wipro and Nestle were the major gainers on NSE. Among the laggards, ONGC, JSW Steel and HCL Tech lost during the session.
In Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 54 points, S&P ASX surged 18 points, Japan's Nikkei rose 399 points and China's Shanghai gained 37 points. In the US markets, Dow Jones went up 524 points, Nasdaq, NYSE and S&P 500 were also trading in the positive territory. In European markets, BEL, CAC, FTSE 100, Madrid SE were trading in the negative territory and FTSE 250 are trading in the positive territory.
Experts are hopeful that this bullish trend will continue till May. Stronger than expected corporate earnings coupled with weakness in dollar might add to the situation where Indian and other emerging equity markets prove to be lucrative for foreign institutional investors.
Girish Sodani, Head of Equity Market at Swastika Investmart, said, "Nifty reclaimed the 18,000-mark intraday and is poised to end April with its biggest gain since November. All sectoral indices are in the green led by IT, PSU banks and realty. Private bank stocks are resisting the trend."
Sodani also said, "Due to the looming fear of economic recession in the US, domestic-driven segments like banking and auto are expected to get preference from both FIIs and domestic institutional investors (DIIs). Demand in China has been sluggish for the last three to four months and hence FIIs are expected to prefer the Indian equity market ahead of China."
He said, "On chart pattern, Nifty is in an uptrend. It is facing a minor hurdle at 18120 levels and on sustainable breaching this level, we can expect the Nifty index to go up to 18400+ levels by the end of May 2023. On lower levels, supports placed at 17780 mark, respectively."
According to Ajit Mishra, Vice-President for Technical Research, Religare Broking, markets ended the week on a strong note and gained nearly a per cent.
"The recent rebound in the US markets has fuelled this surge while indications are mixed from the earnings so far. We feel the continued recovery in other key sectors like energy and IT pack would be critical to maintaining the momentum," Mishra said.
On US stocks, Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said, "Despite concerns about potentially weaker US GDP numbers and high inflation, the stronger-than-expected earnings reported by Meta propelled IT stocks to the forefront of the Wall Street rally."
He said the trend was reflected in the domestic market, as beaten-down IT stocks helped to lift broader market sentiment. "However, with US inflation remaining high, the prospect of another rate hike by the Fed is looming, keeping global markets volatile in the coming days," he added.
Some of the experts of the market see a weaker dollar leading to the local currency posting its monthly gain. Another one said the next boost in price will be seen post-FED's policy review where in expectation are of 0.25 bps hike.
On rupee's performance, Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, said, "Dollar inflows, improved economic progress, and a weaker dollar led to the Indian rupee posting its second monthly gain."
"In April, the rupee gained nearly 0.4 per cent, after touching a three-month high of 81.61 earlier this week. Foreign institutions have purchased approximately USD 650 million in stocks and USD 27 million in debt instruments. In the near future, the bias for the local unit remains bullish and it may head towards 81.50, which is the 200-day moving average line."
Jateen Trivedi, vice-president and research analyst, LKP Securities, said, "Rupee traded in the small range between 81.70-81.80 with positive movement in the dollar at 101.70..."
He addded, "The next boost in price will be seen post-Federal Reserve's policy review where in expectation are of 0.25bps hike, but the focus will be in commentary with weak data witnessed in recent data from Gross Domestic Product (GDP) coming very low at 1.1 per cent compared to 2.6 per cent in the US. It will be a big reason to worry if the US is again turning towards recession. Rupee range can be seen between 81.60-81.90."
Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services opined, "Nifty opened lack-lustre but started gaining strength during mid-market. It witnessed a sharp jump in the last 30 minutes to cross the 18k mark and close with gains of 149 points (+0.8%) at 18,065 levels.
He said strong buying was also seen in the broader market with Midcap 100 up 1 per cent and Smallcap 100 up 0.7 per cent. All sectors ended in green with PSU Bank and IT being top gainers.
"Domestic equities are continuously gaining strength for the last five days supported by healthy Q4 earnings... Nifty showed resilience despite global headwinds gaining over 4 per cent in April -- the best in five months and managing to close above the crucial 18,000 mark," Khemka said.
He expects this momentum to continue with Nifty heading towards 18,200 zones.
"Next week would be crucial as US Fed and ECB policy meetings are lined up. Apart from this, PMI data from US, China and India would also be keenly watched," he said, adding, "On the domestic front, markets will remain closed on Monday. Investors would continue to track Q4 results along with global cues and Auto monthly sales data."