Graphite India & HEG Ltd hit fresh 52-week high; life & health insurance stocks buzz

Update: Nifty trades above the 14,800 mark, up by 133 points while Sensex was seen trading above 49,600 level, up by 430 points.  

Life & health insurance stocks are seen buzzing on the bourses today with SBI Life Insurance being the top gainer, up by over 2 per cent, followed by ICICI Prudential Life Insurance and HDFC Life, which surged by 1.37 per cent and 0.65 per cent, respectively.   

The shares of graphite electrode makers, HEG Ltd and Graphite India Ltd were also in the limelight as both the stocks recorded a new 52-week high on NSE. HEG zoomed by 12 per cent while Graphite inched higher by 7 per cent. Interestingly, we are just into the initial hours of trading and both these stocks have registered more than 50 per cent volume of the last trading session.   

Updates: Indian markets are trading at the day’s high with Nifty surging over 100 points and Sensex jumping 358 points. 

Meanwhile, all eyes were on RBI Monetary Policy announcement today, which was very much on the expected lines as RBI kept interest rates unchanged.   

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das says MPC to retain ‘accommodative’ monetary policy stance. He further reiterates that monetary policy should remain accommodative till prospects of sustained recovery are well-secured. However, with regards to the recent surge in cases, he says the recent surge in infections has imparted greater uncertainty in the outlook. 

Nifty opened the session with a gap-up; however, soon after opening, it wiped out its entire gain to hit the day’s low of 14,573.90. After the first volatile hour of trade, Nifty remained rangebound in the afternoon session, and in the end, it settled with modest gains of 46 points at 14,683.50.

As the index traded within the high-low of its prior session, it has formed an inside bar. Moreover, the inside bar is a small-bodied bear candle with a long lower shadow, which indicates a consolidation movement in the index with buying interest emerging at lower levels. On Tuesday as well, Nifty attempted to move higher; however, on the upside, it faced resistance around the 50-DMA, which presently stands at 14,780.   

Expect the index to remain volatile on Wednesday as the market participants will try to gauge the impact of the new restriction imposed by several state governments to curb the spread of Coronavirus. In addition to this, RBI Monetary Policy announcement and the commentary from RBI Governor would keep the markets on tenterhook.   

As long as the index does not decisively move above the 14,885 levels, we would advise traders not to commit themselves in aggressive long positions. On the other hand, a failure to hold above the level of 14,450 would result in a test of 14,250 levels on the downside.