Frontline Stocks Outperform; Profit Booking Seen in Select Stocks Amid Global Rally 

Mumbai, April 1: Indian stocks posted stock-specific moves on Wednesday with most frontline names jumping sharply higher. Top gainer Adani Enterprises rallied over 6% during the session on strong buying. Tata Motors added nearly 5% on positive sentiment around auto stocks. JSW Steel advanced around 4.5% tracking positive moves in metal counters. Larsen & Toubro gained close to 4%. Axis Bank also traded higher by around 3.5%.

Buying was seen across the board in early trade today. Investors were seen purchasing stocks from various sectors. Capital goods, metals and autos were among the top performers. Cyclical stocks witnessed strong buying interest with many stocks hitting intraday highs. Market breadth remained strong with much larger number of stocks hitting highs. Advance declined ratio was hovering around 1.6x in favour of the bulls.

Buying continued in heavyweight and midcaps stocks around noon hour as well. Mahindra & Mahindra traded with gains of around 3%. State Bank of India also moved higher by around 3%. The market move stayed steady on account of healthy institutional buying. Volatility too eased further on a positive note.

Asian equities trade higher in Asia with Japan and South Korea stocks outperforming. Markets cheered signs that geopolitical tensions could ease after the US military attacked Iran last week. US President Donald Trump said the situation with Iran “will soon be brought under control” and America’s military campaign against Tehran could wind down within weeks.

Rising hopes of de-escalation in Middle East, supported global markets which saw heavy pressure last week. Investors now await the outcome of further developments in the region. Markets were also receiving buying support from easing oil prices and stable currency moves.

Shares of Infosys tanked over 2% making it the top loser on the BSE today. HCL Technologies also slipped nearly 1.8% amid weakness in IT stocks. Nestle India shares fell around 1.5%. Hindustan Unilever also edged lower by around 1.2%. Shares of ITC declined close to 1%.

IT stocks continued to face pressure as global cues turned weak for technology stocks. Defensive stocks also slipped mildly as investors rotated out of these names to high growth ones. However, the selling was very limited and failed to dent the overall market move.

The market breadth weakened mildly but stayed healthy as most of the consumer and financial stocks continued to trade with gains. Market participants will continue to look for global cues and stock-specific triggers in the near term.  

Source: https://www.nseindia.com/market-data/top-gainers-losers