Nifty above 23,400? What Monday’s market close tells us

Market wraps reported the Nifty closing at 23,414.30 on Monday, up about 68 points.

The Sensex closed at 74,858.99, up about 564 points, according to the same reports.

The move followed six weekly losses.

Crude oil eased, and Asian markets were higher.

Direction ahead depends on oil, foreign flows and Middle East developments.

The gains came as easing crude oil prices offered relief to a market that had been on edge over Middle East tensions.

Brent crude fell about 2.2 percent to roughly 101.56 dollars a barrel, and US crude fell about 2.4 percent to about 97.93 dollars.

Asian markets had closed broadly higher, with South Korea’s Kospi up 1.43 percent and Japan’s Nikkei up 1.38 percent.

InterGlobe Aviation, which runs IndiGo, rose about 1.55 percent to Rs 4,996.50, helped by lower fuel costs.

Sun Pharma rose about 1.39 percent and Reliance Industries about 1.36 percent in early trade.

Adani Ports fell about 2.8 percent, Bharti Airtel about 2.3 percent and Wipro about 1.8 percent.

The rebound followed a sixth consecutive weekly loss for the Sensex and Nifty, the longest such run in about six years for the Sensex.

Investors were also watching the closing of the Rs 22,569 crore NSE IPO, which had drawn liquidity from the secondary market.

Oil-importing India is sensitive to crude prices, since lower prices reduce the import bill and support the rupee and inflation outlook.

Market direction in the coming days is likely to depend on crude oil, foreign fund flows and developments in the Middle East.

In early trade on Monday, September 21, the BSE Sensex rose 419.94 points, or 0.57 percent, to 74,714.90.

The NSE Nifty 50 added 39.75 points, or 0.17 percent, to 23,386.15 in early deals.

Some reports put the opening levels slightly lower, with the Sensex up about 330 points at 74,624.74 and the Nifty at about 23,372.

Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers, Bombay Stock Exchange (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0