Indian equities see relief rally after two days

MUMBAI: Indian equities saw a relief rally on Thursday following its global peers and healthy domestic services PMI data, said Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Nifty opened a gap-up and remained in positive territory throughout the session to close with gains of 110 points (+0.6 per cent) at 19546 levels, while Sensex climbed 406 points or 0.62 per cent to settle at 65,632 levels.

Sectorally, it was a mixed bag with buying seen in auto, IT and consumer durables, Khemka said.

Markets saw a recovery after two days of fall amid stability in global indices following ease in US Bond yields and a fall in crude oil prices from their recent highs. Though the market bounced back today, uncertainty persists which would keep the Nifty range bound, he said.

Investors would watch out for US weekly jobless claims that would be released later on Thursday.

Also, the release of US non-farm payroll data along with the RBI policy outcome tomorrow would be key events to watch out for.

The ICC ODI World Cup began in India on Thursday, which is expected to have a positive impact on various sectors like travel & tourism, hotels, consumers, and QSR, thus these sectors are likely to remain in the momentum, Khemka added.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said the positive signal from the PMI data and the correction in the crude price boosted the market sentiment. Reduction in FIIs selling led to a rebound in sectors like bank and IT shares on Thursday.

While regarding RBI policy, positively, the market expects the interest rate to be hold-on as external demand outlook indicates muted trend fearing disinflationary trend in the future, he said.