Nifty, Sensex Close Higher As ICICI Bank, ITC Shares Lead: Market Wrap

The benchmark stock indices reversed losses to close higher on Monday, buoyed by financial stocks. The NSE Nifty 50 closed 84.25 points or 0.34% higher, at 24,936.40 to snap a three-session fall. The S&P BSE Sensex closed 375.61 points or 0.46%, up at 81,559.54, reversing a four-day decline.

During the day, the Nifty rose as much as 0.42% to 24,957.50, while the Sensex jumped 0.58% to 81,653.36.

Bears tightened their grip as the market started the week on a tepid note, according to Aditya Gaggar, director of Progressive Share Brokers. "A steep fall in the mid- and small-cap segments pulled the index much lower but banking and FMCG counters came to the rescue and helped the Nifty settle the trade."

"On the daily chart, the index has made a green candle at 38.2% retracement, coupled with 21 DMA support, which suggests a potential trend continuation (bullish)," Gaggar said. "A zone of 24,730–24,780 will be considered a strong support area, while on the higher side, it needs to clear the hurdle of 25,000–25,100 to resume an uptrend."

Shares of ICICI Bank Ltd., ITC Ltd., Hindustan Unilever Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd. and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. led the gains in the Nifty.

Shares of Oil & Natural Gas Corp., Tech Mahindra Ltd. and NTPC Ltd. contributed the most to the losses in the index.

Most sectoral indices on the NSE declined, with the Nifty Oil & Gas falling the most.

The broader markets underperformed the benchmark indices, as the BSE MidCap and the SmallCap ended 0.28% and 0.65% lower, respectively.

On the BSE, 14 out of the 20 sectors ended lower. Oil & Gas declined the most and FMCG emerged as the top-performing sector.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of the sellers as 2,371 stocks declined, 1,667 advanced and 143 remained unchanged on the BSE.