HCL Technologies, Infosys, other IT stocks push Sensex, Nifty up; top factors moving markets today

Equity markets saw midcap and smallcap indices outperform the benchmarks. Volatility, after gaining in the initial minutes, slipped marginally.

Sensex and Nifty began Monday’s trading session with gains on the back of strong global cues. S&P BSE Sensex was trading over 250 points higher while the Nifty 50 was just shy of the 11,550 mark. HCL Technologies, HDFC Bank, HDFC, and Tata Steel were the top Sensex gainers. Equity markets saw midcap and smallcap indices outperform the benchmarks. Volatility, after gaining in the initial minutes, slipped marginally. India VIX was still trading above 20 levels. Asian markets were trading higher on Monday morning and the SGX Nifty was also trading with gains.

Midcap, smallCap outperform: BSE SmallCap index was up over 3% during the initial hour of trade. The BSE Midcap index was up close to 1.5%. On the other hand, BSE Sensex was up 0.62%. The new SEBI rule for Multi Cap funds could act as a catalyst for midcap and small cap stocks. 

Investor wealth surges: Investor’s wealth in terms of BSE’s equity markets capitalization of all listed firms was up over Rs 1.63 lakh crore with the stock markets gaining on Monday morning. The market capitalization of all BSE listed firms stood at Rs 156.88 lakh crore at the end of trading on Friday, it was up to Rs 158.5 lakh crore on Monday morning.

Top gainers: HCL Technologies shares gained over 6% during the initial hour of trade, followed by Tech Mahindra, Infosys, TCS, and Reliance Industries. Among BSE Midcap constituents, Crompton was the top gainer followed by Voltas and Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd. On the BSE Smallcap index, MCX was up over 18%. It was followed by APL Apollo Tubes, and Blue Star. 

Top drags: Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, and Maruti were the top drags on BSE Sensex. Future Retail and Colgate Palmolive were the top drags on the midcap index. Ganesh Housing Corporation, Vikas Ecotech were the worst performing smallcap stocks.

Technical take: “We have gone past 11500 upon opening – this signals a stop out for all short trades on the index. If we sustain above 11575, fresh longs can be initiated on the index which should take us above 11800. The support for the Nifty now lies at 11300,” said Manish Hathiramani, Index Trader and Technical Analyst, Deen Dayal Investments.