Market close: Sensex up 227 points to 72,050; Nifty nears 22,000 pts mark again

Indian stock markets are showing gradual recovery from January 2024’s bloodbath, with both Sensex and Nifty closing in the green.

Sensex was up 227 points on Thursday, closing at 72,050.61 while Nifty closed at 21,910, up by 70 points. As the markets closed on February 15, Nifty once again neared its all-time high at nearly 22,000.

At close on Thursday, both Sensex and Nifty were up 0.32 percent each. Earlier, market analysts predicted that both Sensex and Nifty will touch new peaks in mid-2024 due to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in April-May.

While both the indices closed in the green today, they struggled for direction in the early trade hours. Nifty has been on a stellar recovery path, adding 1.36 percent over the course of the last three trading session.

Domestic institutional investors (DII) have bought 135.45 billion rupees (about $1.6 billion) of shares on a net basis in February so far, cushioning sales of 111.07 billion rupees by foreign institutional investors on a net basis.

Meanwhile, public sector banks jumped 3.27%, taking gains in the last three sessions to about 8%. State Bank of India, which did not participate in the PSU bank rally in 2023, jumped 2.46% on Thursday to take its year-to-date rise to 19%.

Energy and oil and gas gained 1.75% and 2.46%, respectively, on the day, sustaining their post-results rally.

Morgan Stanley reiterated its “overweight” rating on NTPC and Power Grid, and upgraded Bharat Heavy Electricals, forecasting a capex boost for the sector. NTPC, Power Grid and BHEL gained between 1.3% and 3.5%.