Sensex rises 93 points, ends higher for fourth day; Nifty tops 11,450

Benchmark equity index Sensex rose for the fourth day straight on account of gains in financials and bank stocks. The 30-share pack witnessed a volatile session amid mixed cues from global peers.

BSE barometer Sensex closed 0.24 per cent or 93 points higher at 38,599. Its NE counterpart Nifty rose 0.38 per cent or 43 points to 11,472.

Trade data released after market hours on Tuesday helped the sentiment on D-Street. India's September trade deficit narrowed to $10.86 billion from $14.95 billion a year ago, the trade ministry said in a statement, helped by lower oil imports.

However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its estimate for India’s growth this year to 6.1 per cent from 7 per cent projected in July, calling on the country to use monetary policy and broad-based structural reforms to address cyclical weakness and strengthen confidence.

Markets at a glance:
The market breadth was weak and leaned in favour of the sellers.

Among sectoral indices, BSE Oil & Gas and BSE Realty index led the gainers’ pack, rising 1.20 per cent and 1.09 per cent, respectively.

Sixteen of 30 Sensex stocks closed higher. Financial stocks contributed the most to Sensex’s gains. Mortgage lender HDFC (62.93 points) contributed 1.88 per cent gain followed by Bajaj Finance (31.72 points). Energy-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 0.69 per cent.

Shares of Bajaj Consumer Care, makers of a range of haircare and cosmetic products, hit its 20 per cent upper circuit limit after promoters sold their stake to pare debt.

Analysts’ views:
“Nifty staged a strong bounce and tested 11,450-11,500 – trend support for the index is seen at 11,050. Short term momentum indicators are overbought and hence some consolidation is playing out. We suggest buying on dips with a support of 11,050. On the higher side we expect the index to conquer 11700 in the near term followed by 12,100 over the next few weeks. Private banking and IT are expected to outperform while selective buying is suggested in Midcap stocks."
Sahaj Agarwal, Head of Derivatives, Kotak Securities.

“The earnings season is likely to gain momentum as some of the front liners would be declaring their results in the next few days. We expect that investors and traders would focus more on the management outlook especially for consumption driven companies. Further, market participants would keep a close watch on trade talk developments between US and China, currency and crude oil price movement."
Ajit Mishra Vice President, Research, Religare Broking.

Global markets:
European shares slipped on Wednesday, after closing at their highest level in more than a year, as London’s last-ditch Brexit talks with Brussels kept investors apprehensive about making brisk decisions, Reuters reported.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.3 per cent, after closing at its highest level since May 2018.

Earlier, shares rose in Asia. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.5 per cent. MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe was flat