Stock market closing: Sensex, Nifty close the day in green, PSU banks soar by over 3%

Both indices, Nifty and Sensex closed the day in the green. While Nifty closed the day up by 0.35%, trading at 24,586.70, Sensex inched up 145 points to close at 80,664.86 points.

ONGC (up by 5.18%), SBI Life (up by 2.95%), Shri Ram Finance (up by 2.88%), State Bank of India (up by 2.71%) and Bajaj Auto (up by 2.58%) were amongst the leading gainers of the day. On the other hand, LTI Mindtree (down by 1.63%), Asian Paints (down by 1.34%), Grasim (down by 1.33%), Tata Steel (down by 0.94%) and Axis Bank (down by 0.67%) were amidst the leading laggards.

All broad market indices closed the day in green, with India VIX inching up by over 3% during the day's close. As for sectoral indices, IT was down by 0.29%, while Auto (up by 1.09%), Media (up by 1.53%), PSU bank (up by 3.07%), Realty (up by 1,34%) and Healthcare (up by 1.28%) closed the day in green.

Out of the 2,835 stocks traded during the day, 1,499 saw advances while 1,254 stocks saw declines. 20 stocks hit their 52-week high, while 20 stocks also hit their 52-week low price. 115 stocks hit the upper circuit during the day, while 92 stocks hit the lower circuit as well.

Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research, Kotak Securities notes that the benchmark indices continued positive momentum, the nifty ends 85 points higher while the Sensex was up by 145 points. Among Sectors, PSU Banks index outperformed rallied over 3% whereas selective IT stocks witnessed intraday profit booking at higher levels.

"Technically, after a gap up opening, market held the positive momentum throughout the day. Breakout continuation formation on intraday charts indicating further uptrend from the current levels.For the trend following traders now, 24,500/80,500 would be the key support level. Above the same, the market could continue uptrend momentum till 24,650-24,700/81,000-81,200. On the flip side, below 24,500/80,500 uptrend would be vulnerable", he continued.

Aditya Gaggar, director of Progressive Shares, defines the day's trade as lackluster. "Barring IT, all other sectors ended the day in green with PSU bank being the top gainer followed by media. Mid and small caps advanced over 0.50% and outperformed the frontline index. The downside seems to be protected at 24,400 while on the higher side level of 24,740 will serve as an immediate hurdle", he notes.