BSE Sensex & Nifty50 at record highs! Indian equity indices opened at new record highs on Tuesday, following a strong performance in the previous session. The positive sentiment was driven by robust macroeconomic data, expectations of a US rate cut in March, and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) success in key state elections.
At 10:54 AM, the BSE Sensex was trading 447 points or 0.65% higher at 69,312, while the Nifty50 was up 150 points or 0.73% at 20,837.
Leading the gains were heavyweight stocks such as HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, which opened with over a 1% increase. Axis Bank, M&M, SBI, HUL, and Nestle also started the day positively. However, HCL Tech, Infosys, UltraTech Cement, and NTPC opened with losses.
Shares of Honasa Consumer (Mamaearth) rose nearly 5% following reports of a block deal involving 6.1 million shares sold by Fireside Ventures, according to an ET report.
Adani stocks continued their upward trajectory on Tuesday. Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of the Adani group, rose 6% to Rs 2,678.2, while Adani Green Energy saw a 5.3% increase. Adani Ports and Adani Total Gas also surged over 4%, and Adani Energy Solutions and Adani Wilmar gained over 3%.
The Nifty Smallcap100 and Nifty Midcap100 indices rose by 0.4% and 0.6%, respectively. Meanwhile, Nifty Bank gained 0.8%, and Nifty Financial Services saw a 0.6% increase. Nifty Auto, FMCG, Media, Metal, and Pharma sectors also opened higher.
Experts believe that there is an accumulation of frontline banking stocks, which, combined with short covering and reasonable valuations, will keep this segment strong. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, stated that the market has the potential to go up by another 5% in the next few weeks. Beyond that, valuations will get stretched, inviting a correction in the market, he believes.
Deven Mehata, Research Analyst at Choice Broking is of the view that Nifty may find support at 20,600, followed by 20,550 and 20,500. On the higher side, 20,750 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 20,800 and 20,900, he said.
In terms of investments, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought Indian shares worth Rs 2,073 crore on a net basis on Monday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) added shares worth Rs 4,797 crore.
Global markets took a breather after recent gains, with Wall Street equities retreating ahead of key US labour market data. Asian stocks also slipped to a three-week low, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 0.9% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei fell 1% due to a decline in chip making stocks.
Oil prices remained steady on Tuesday amid uncertainty over voluntary output cuts by OPEC+ and ongoing tensions in the Middle East. Brent crude futures edged down 4 cents to $78 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 3 cents at $73.07 a barrel.
The Indian rupee weakened by 3 paise to $83.41 against the US dollar in early trade. This followed a recovery in US Treasury yields and a slight increase in the dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against major world currencies.
