“The December auto sales numbers were a positive surprise and were ahead of expectations in some pockets, leading to a short covering, and that pushed the markets higher today,” said Pankaj Pandey, head of research at ICICI Direct.
The NSE Nifty spurted 1.9%, or 445.75 points, to close at 24,188.65. The BSE Sensex jumped 1.8%, or 1,436.30 points, to close at 79,943.71.
Both gauges, which logged their steepest daily upsides since November 22, have gained 2.3% in the first two trading sessions of 2025. In December, the two tumbled 2.6% each.
Bajaj Finserv soared 7.9% and Bajaj Finance shot up 6.5%, rebounding from their underperformance in recent months.
Auto Index Rises
This is after Kotak Institutional Equities upgraded ratings on both stocks that serve as reasonably accurate discretionary demand proxies. Automobile shares, meanwhile, extended gains after Maruti Suzuki surged 5.5% and Mahindra & Mahindra 4.2%, boosted by their better-than-expected December sales readings that eased mounting concerns of a demand slump after the September quarter GDP print slowed to a seven-quarter low. The Nifty Auto Index surged 3.8% on Thursday. Elsewhere in Asia, most markets ended lower. China and Hong Kong slumped 2.7% and 2.2%, respectively, while Taiwan moved 0.9% lower. Indonesia gained 1.2%.
‘Upwardly’ Mobile
At home, technical indicators are flashing green after the unexpected surge on Thursday. The Nifty ended above the 200 day moving average (DMA) – a long-term trend indicator – of 23,900 on Thursday, after struggling to cross the level for eight trading sessions.
“Today, it has crossed that level and is expected to continue its up move toward 24,500 to 24,700 levels as the bias has turned positive,” said Nilesh Jain, head of derivatives and technical research, Centrum Broking. “This year has begun on an extremely positive note as the strong build-up of positions in the December Series is rolled over to January, sparking the short covering.” ICICI Direct’s Pandey also expects the Nifty to inch to 24,500 levels in stock-specific moves as investors weigh third-quarter earnings that will begin to trickle in from the second week of this month. But the odds remain long on a sustained recovery, he said.
The Nifty IT Index moved 2.3% higher, while the Nifty Financial Services gauge rose 1.6%. Bank Nifty gained 1.1%, while the private and PSU bank indices advanced 1.4% and 0.8%, respectively.
