Max Healthcare Leads Nifty Surge as Pharma, Realty and PSU Banks Power Thursday Rally

Mumbai, June 18: Shares of India’s benchmark index, NSE, rose marginally, helped by gains in rate sensitive stocks, as India VIX closed down by over 3 per cent. Nifty was trading at 24,185.35 (+0.41%) at the time of writing. Investors rotated into healthcare, pharma & hospitals stocks, realty and PSU banks as sentiment remained supported by cooling of geopolitical tensions around Iran-Israel-US crisis. Three sectoral indices were worth mentioning here, Nifty Healthcare (+1.11%), Nifty Realty (+0.83%) and Nifty PSU Bank (+0.65%). 

Nifty Healthcare Stocks Outperform on Defensive Rotation 

Markets on Thursday witnessed a rotation into healthcare stocks on defensive buying. Pharma companies with ANDA focused pipelines and hospital stocks looking to cash in on opportunities to expand capacities during the pandemic recovery cycle were among the top gainers today. Nifty Healthcare index was at 15,573.50 today after hitting intraday highs during the session. 

Pharma stocks also found support from a weaker dollar and market expects some US FDA approvals for the larger USFDA filings ahead. Export oriented pharma companies may continue to gain from easing geopolitical tensions. Analysts said healthcare stocks should continue to do well as investors hunt for defensive stocks in the global hedge against rising geo-political risks. 

Nifty Realty: Strength in housing finance cos and demand  

Nifty Realty today was seen higher on strength in housing finance companies and demand for commercial properties. Nifty Realty was today at 14,493.70 after hitting an intraday high of 14,572.45 at the time of writing this story. 

Top gainers in the index were DLF which gained by 2.96 per cent. Investors have been buying large format commercial and residential real estate players on expectation that RBI will keep policy rates unchanged during the upcoming monetary policy review later this month. DLF alone added nearly ₹1280 crore on Wednesday after initiating buying from institutions. 

Nifty PSU Bank Stocks Rise as Investors Welcome Deposit Acceptance by Banks, Higher Credit Growth Expectations 

Among Nifty PSU Bank Stocks, lenders rallied backed by fresh order flows and expectations that credit growth could pick up on signs of strong credit offtake during Q1FY27. State-run lenders like SBI, Union Bank & Bank of Maharashtra were among top gainers while Nifty PSU Bank closed higher by 0.65 per cent today at 11,786.15 after hitting an intraday high of 11,823.95. 

Stocks like SBI rose by 1.56 per cent to ₹1,042.50 while Union Bank of India rose by 1.44 per cent on expectations that its loan growth will be better-than-expected in coming quarters.