In a bullish turn of events during Thursday’s trading session, benchmark equity indices exhibited robust performance. The NSE Nifty 50 surged by 1.23% to settle at 21,182.70, while the BSE Sensex gained 929.60 points to conclude at 70,514.20. In intraday trading, the Nifty 50 reached a record high of 21,210.90 with a 1.35% increase, and the Sensex added 1018 points, peaking at 70,602.89.
“The market continued its exuberance and hit a fresh high amid the dovish commentary from the Federal Reserve, signalling at least three rate cuts in 2024. Further, the sharp fall in US bond yields improved investors’ confidence. An upgrade in India’s GDP forecast, ease in global oil prices, and the RBI decision to clamp down inflation to the target level, led to a broad-based rally with outperformance from Realty and IT,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Infosys, Tech Mahindra, LTIMindtree, Wipro, and HCL Tech were the top gainers on the NSE Nifty 50, while the laggards included Power Grid Corporation of India, HDFC Life Insurance Company, Nestle India, Cipla, and JSW Steel.
The volatility index (India Vix) ended up 2.11%.
Ajit Mishra, SVP – Technical Research, Religare Broking pointed out that the markets resumed uptrend after a breather and gained over a percent, tracking favorable global cues. Firm US markets triggered a gap-up start in Nifty, which further strengthened as the session progressed. All key sectors participated in the rally wherein IT, banking and realty were among the top gainers. The broader indices also edged higher and gained in the range of 0.9%-1.3%. “Firm US indices may continue to rub off on our markets and we are now eyeing 21,500 in Nifty. We reiterate our preference for banking & IT majors and suggest staying selective in others. Though the midcap and smallcap pack is also aligned with the move, traders should maintain extra caution in stock selection citing the overbought conditions,” Ajit Mishra added.