Bull-run prevails as Sensex jumps 345 points; banking stocks lead rally

BSE 30-share Sensex went up 345 points and settled higher at 62,846 while NSE Nifty surged 99 points and ended at 18,599. Nifty had an intra-day high of 18,641. The Bank Nifty hit a fresh all-time high at 44,483. BSE banking index eventually ended 0.7 per cent higher at 44,312.

With the exception of IT and oil and gas, all other sectoral indices ended in the green with the metal index going up to 1 per cent on Monday.

In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei went up 317 points, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 195 points, S and P ASX gained 60 points and Thailand Set surged 10 points on Monday.

In US markets, Dow Jones gained 328 points, Nasdaq surged 278 points, S and P/BMV and NYSE were trading in the positive territory and S and P 500 went up 54 points.

In European markets, Amsterdam Exchange, BEL, CAC and Deutsche Borse were trading in the negative territory, FTSE 100 was up 56 points and Madrid was in the negative territory.

The domestic institutional investors (DIIs) turned net buyers on Friday with Rs 1,840.98 crore and foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were also buyers with Rs 350.15 crore.

The local currency settled at 82.64 (provisional) against the US dollar, registering a fall of 4 paise over its previous close.

The shares of State Bank of India closed with 1.47 per cent up at Rs 594.60 apiece on Monday. The board of directors of the largest lender in the country declared a dividend of Rs 11.3 per equity share for the financial year 2023, translating to a dividend of 1,130 per cent.

Sandeep Gupta, Senior Group VP and Head of Dealing and Advisory, Broking and Distribution, MOFSL, said, "Bank Nifty has been the biggest outperformer in recent months as good buying interest is seen across financial stocks. The Index made a new all-time high of 44483 mark today, compared to its previous high of 44,151 made in December 2022."

Earning momentum continued for Banking stocks as most banks reported strong results.

He said, "Apart from further expansion in margins, asset quality too continued to improve. Loan book growth has been healthy across segments. The Index is witnessing a strong breakout and could see further momentum from hereon and the Index can now head towards 45000 to 46000 zones in coming sessions."

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said, "Nifty held on to steady gains to end higher on May 29. At close, Nifty was up 0.54 per cent or 99.3 points at 18598.7. Volumes did not expand even as Nifty keeps surging higher."

Speaking on global stocks, he said, "Trading volumes were light, with the US, UK and several European markets closed today for holidays. Nifty rose on May 29 with an upgap following the debt ceiling agreement over the weekend. 18696 is the next resistance for Nifty while 18508 could be a support."

On the lines of domestic stocks ending higher, Siddhartha Khemka, Head for Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said, "Domestic equities edge higher following global optimism after the US government reached a tentative agreement to raise the debt ceiling and avert a default... Broader markets along with all major sectors too ended in green. Only oil and gas, and IT closed lower."

He said Indian markets are seeing strong momentum driven by banking and other heavyweight stocks. "We expect the uptrend in Nifty to continue and expect it to head toward its life-high levels on the back of positive global cues, consistent FIIs buying, and healthy corporate earnings," he added.

India's overall foreign exchange reserves declined USD 6.05 billion to USD 593.477 billion in the week that ended on May 19, 2023, data released by the Reserve Bank of India on Friday showed. Last week, it was near USD 600 billion and had hit a one-year high.

India's foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the forex reserves, declined by USD 4.65 billion to USD 524.945 billion.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said, "The domestic benchmarks experienced a strong rally and came close to their lifetime highs, primarily driven by positive global cues and robust predictions of domestic economic growth."

He said an in-principle approval from US leaders for raising the US debt ceiling generated optimism among global investors, who are now anticipating the next monetary plan of the Federal Reserve and economic data points. (ANI)