We mentioned that a strong upmove was possible above 5,870. Today the Nifty closed at 5,916. The upmove will continue as long as the benchmark does not close below any previous day’s low

The market settled in the green for the fourth day on gains in auto and healthcare stocks in late trade today. We had mentioned that a strong upmove possible above 5,870. Today the Nifty closed at 5,916. However if the benchmark closes below the previous day’s low, it may the first sign of trend reversal. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) reported a higher volume of 75.09 crore shares on account of the expiry of the April derivatives contract. The advance-decline ratio was 720:612, which is not very encouraging for the bulls.

The market opened in the positive after a day’s break tracking its Asian peers, which were in the green in morning trade today. Positive earnings from Axis Bank also added support to the market sentiment. US markets closed flat on Wednesday as corporate earnings came in below expectations.

The Nifty opened 19 points higher at 5,856 and the Sensex resumed trade at 19,192, a gain of 13 points over its close on Tuesday. While the opening figure on the Sensex was its intraday low, the Nifty’s low was at 5,853, which was also recorded in initial trade.

Buying in banking, IT, metal, oil & gas and healthcare sectors led the market higher as trade progressed. The benchmarks remained firm in morning trade. However, the market pared some of its gains after a soft opening of the key European indices. The market witnessed some degree of volatility in the last hour on account of the expiry of the April derivative contract.

Buying support from auto and healthcare sectors, which surged over 2% each in late trade, helped the market hit its intraday high towards the end of the trading session. The Nifty rose to 5,925 and the Sensex climbed to 19,435 at their respective highs.

The gains saw the market closing near the highs and in the green for the fourth consecutive day. The Nifty closed 79 points (1.36%) higher at 5,916 and the Sensex finished at 19,407, a jump of 227 points (1.19%) over its previous close.

Markets across Asia closed mixed as banks loans to China’s property sector rose 16% in the first quarter of 2013 raised fresh concerns about a property bubble. Besides, worries about the new bird flu virus also weighed on the sentiments.

The Hang Seng surged 1.11%; the Nikkei 225 advanced 0.60%; the Straits Times rose 0.45% and the Seoul Composite gained 0.84%. On the other hand, the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.86%; the Jakarta Composite declined 0.34%; the KLSE Composite fell 0.06% and the Taiwan Weighted shed 0.02%.

At the time of writing, the key European markets were mixed with a negative bias but were off early lows as UK’s first quarter GDP growth better than expected. At the same time, the US stock futures were marginally in the green.

Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers of shares totalling Rs226.21 crore on Tuesday. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors were net sellers of equities amounting to Rs528.29 crore.