Sensex, Nifty end with gains as banks help Dalal Street roar; here’s what moved stock markets today

Stock markets in Asia ended with gains on Monday. KOSDAQ jumped 2.4% while Hang Seng gained 1.7%.

Sensex and Nifty ended Monday’s trading session with gains, continuing their gaining streak for the second day straight. S&P BSE Sensex ended 364 points higher at 38,799 while the Nifty 50 managed to close at 11,466. Banks and other financial stocks were the top gainers on Dalal Street today marching upwards strongly. Analysts say that today’s surge was aided by global peers and believe that domestic equity markets will continue to inch higher taking cues from stock markets across the world. Volatility fell to 19 levels, lowest it has been since February last week.

Top gainers: Banking and finance stocks were up the most. Kotak Mahindra Bank and IndusInd Bank surged on Sensex. Among BSE Midcap stocks, Cholamandalam Finance and Adani Enterprises were the top gainers. Universal Cables and Fine Organic Industries were the top smallcap gainers.

Top drags: Powergrid saw profit booking to end as the worst Sensex constituent, followed by Mahindra & Mahindra, and Tech Mahindra. Among Midcap stocks Varroc and Future Retail were the top drags. On the BSE Smallcap index Navkar Corporation and Bhansali Engineering Polymers were down over 6% each.

Financials gain: Of the top 6 Sensex gainers, all were from the banking and financial services sector. Kotak Mahindra Bank maintained its position as the top gainer for the majority of the trading session.

Global cues: Stock markets in Asia ended with gains on Monday. KOSDAQ jumped 2.4% while Hang Seng gained 1.7%. Asian stock markets rose Monday after Wall Street hit a new high despite lingering unease about a possible second wave of coronavirus infections but boosted by hopes of early discovery of a vaccine,” said Deepak Jasani, Head Retail Research, HDFC Securities.

Technical talk: “The markets almost touched the 11500 levels today. We should be able to revisit that price point and possibly higher towards 11700. Any dip can be utilized as a buying opportunity. 11300 is now a strong support for the Nifty, said Manish Hathiramani, Index Trader and Technical Analyst, Deen Dayal Investments.