Indian Benchmark Indices Rise, Realty Stocks Lead Gains, Volatility Eases

Benchmark Sensex and Nifty indices continued to trade in green on April 23 afternoon, led by gains in realty stocks. The rally helped ease market volatility as India VIX, which measures near-term volatility, fell sharply by 19 percent, last seen in May 2019.

Around noon, the Sensex was up 263.09 points or 0.36 percent at 73,911.71, and the Nifty was up 83.80 points or 0.38 percent at 22,420.20. The market breadth was in favour of gainers as around 2,155 shares advanced, 1,039 declined, and 82 traded unchanged.

Meanwhile, broader markets outperformed the benchmarks, with the BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap rising up to 0.9 percent each.

Sectoral trend

Barring Nifty Pharma, all sectors traded with gains on April 23 afternoon. Nifty Realty index was the top sectoral performer led by gains in DLF, Macrotech Developers, Godrej Properties, and Phoenix Mills.

Fundamental view

V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services said that external factors like the high bond yields in the US (the 10-year continues above 4.6 percent) and geopolitical concerns in the Middle East are not impacting the underlying bullish trend.

"FPI selling triggered by high US bond yields is neutralised by aggressive DII buying, putting the FPIs on the back foot," he said.

Technical view

Deven Mehata, Research Analyst at Choice Broking expects Nifty to find support at 22,300 followed by 22,200 and 22,150. On the higher side, 22,450 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 22,500 and 22,550, he said.

Stock moves

PSP Projects: Shares of PSP Projects rose around 4 percent on April 23 after the company launched its its qualified institutions placement (QIP) in a bid to raise Rs 244 crore.

Tejas Networks: The stock was locked at 20 percent upper circuit on April 23 afternoon, a day after the company reported robust earnings for the quarter ended March 2024 with margins and revenue beating street estimates.