Sensex posts 4th winning session; RIL thrives, Bharti dips

The Sensex closed higher for the fourth consecutive day on the back of sharp upside in heavyweight Reliance Industries, which gained 4.5% on institutional buying. Metal stocks continued their run up today as well and banking stocks were the other gainers.

However, selling in telecom, realty, power, FMCG, auto, oil marketing, capital goods and select technology stocks capped the gains. Bharti Airtel, DLF, Jindal Steel and BPCL exerted pressure on the Nifty; these stocks fell 3-4%.

The equity benchmarks saw consolidation for the second straight day. The 30-share BSE Sensex traded in a range of 16,215.74-16,044.77, before closing at 16,183.55, up 59.88 points or 0.37% over the previous close. The 50-share NSE Nifty was up just 0.19% or 9 points, to settle at 4814.25, after trading in a range of 4825.05-4783.50.

Deven Choksey of KR Choksey Securities said the market was consolidating and moving ahead. "We will see 4,750-4,850, a 100 point band for the Nifty for the time being and the moment it crosses above 4,850 probably we will see 4,950 kind of trade lane shifted on the upside."  

Hiren Ved, CIO of Alchemy Capital Management said the market had definitely broken out of the critical range. "The market will climb all walls of worry over the next few months. In the next quarter or so we could look at the index at closer to 5,200 on the Nifty."

Reliance Industries (RIL) shot up 12.35% to Rs 2,169.35 a share in four days. Choksey said RIL closing above Rs 2,125 level indicated a new participation into the market. "Technically the stock should be moving in the direction of more than Rs 2,300 levels over a period of time. When one counts 5,000-5,200 on Nifty, the participation of Reliance is definitely there. So, I am positive largely on Reliance side."