Sensex hits fresh all-time high, Nifty tad away from lifetime peak; Swan Energy & Aether Industries jump up to 8%

Indian equity benchmarks traded higher in volatile early deals on Thursday, despite weak cues from the global markets. The domestic indices were up led by gains in metals, banks, financials and automobile stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack rose 79 points or 0.13 per cent to hit an all-time high of 63,602 in opening deals, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 26 points or 0.11 per cent up to trade at 18,882, a few points away from its lifetime peak of 18,888. Mid- and small-cap shares were positive as Nifty Midcap 100 edged 0.02 per cent higher and small-cap rose 0.36 per cent.

"Market has been bouncing back from the dips consistently, and this market construct has the potential to sustain the enthusiasm of the bulls. India stands out among emerging markets with the best growth-inflation balance. However, the big wall of worry is the rich valuation, which might invite institutional selling beyond a point," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

On the global front, most Asian shares were trading in negative territory tracking an overnight decline in Wall Street equities after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in his congressional testimony that the US central bank may hike rates further to rein in inflation.

Back home, foreign investors remained net buyers in Indian equities in the fiscal year 2024, purchasing shares worth Rs 79,678 crore so far. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought Rs 4,013 crore worth of Indian equities on a net basis on Wednesday, while domestic investors bought Rs 550 crore of shares, as per provisional NSE data.

Eight out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty Metal, Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Auto were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 0.49 per cent, 0.17 per cent, 0.29 per cent and 0.29 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Tata Steel was the top gainer in the Nifty pack as the stock gained 1.36 per cent to trade at Rs 111.80. HDFC Life, Divi's Labs, ICICI Bank and M&M rose up to 1.17 per cent.

In contrast, Infosys, PowerGrid, Tata Consumer Products, Nestle India and Wipro were among the top laggards.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,835 shares were advancing while 982 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, HDFC twins (HDFC and HDFC Bank) and M&M were among the top gainers.

Also, Swan Energy, Aether Industries, Alok Industries and KEI Industries jumped up to 7.58 per cent. On the other hand, Supreme Petrochem, Info Edge, India Cements and IDFC First Bank slipped up to 4.06 per cent.

Sensex had climbed 195 points or 0.31 per cent to close at 63,523 yesterday; while Nifty had moved 40 points or 0.21 per cent to settle at 18,857.

Nifty outlook

 

"While we had gone in with positive expectations in the last two days, encouraging us to keep buying into dips, we feel it is time for the trend to show its strength. Else, wilt. We prefer to either stay away, or buy into rallies above 18,870, while being prepared to come off longs, if unable to float above the same, which could call for 18,700 again. Direct rise above 18,870/18,887 region could call for 19,040-19,070, with limited prospects of achieving the 19,200 objectives in a hurry," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

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