Indian equity indices opened with modest gains on Monday, with the Sensex hitting the 70,000 mark for the first time, led by banking, financial and IT stocks.
The BSE Sensex was trading 140 points or 0.20% higher at 69,966. Nifty50 was trading at 20,991, up 22 points or 0.11% at around 9.21 am.
The ongoing rally is supported by strong macroeconomic data, a drop in crude oil prices, favourable global interest rate outlook, return of foreign inflows and sustained inflows from domestic mutual fund investors.
From the Sensex stocks, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, SBI, Kotak Bank, and HCL Tech opened in the green, while Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, M&M, Titan, and Maruti opened with cuts.
GMR Airports Infrastructure rose 5% after GQG Partners on Friday bought a close to 5% stake in the company in a deal worth Rs 1,672 crore through the open market.
Lloyd Metals also surged over 7% after its Board approved the expansion of the iron ore mining capacity of the company upto 55 million tonnes per annum. It has given the nod to establish a 45 million tonnes per annum banded hematite quartzite beneficiation plant at Hedri.
Sector-wise, Nifty PSU Bank rose 1.4%, and Nifty Media gained 1.42%. Nifty Auto, Financial, FMCG, IT, Metal, Realty and Oil & Gas also opened higher.
Experts Take
“Global and domestic cues favour continuation of the ongoing rally in the market despite high valuations. FIIs turning buyers, strong DII inflows, exuberant retail investors and a thriving IPO market supported by strong economic fundamentals can sustain the rally in the short run ignoring the high valuations,” said V K Vijayakumar, Geojit Financial Services.
“A significant trend in the market is the outperformance of the Bank Nifty over the Nifty. Last week while the Nifty appreciated by 3.5%, Bank Nifty shot up by 5.5%. This outperformance is likely to continue, given the fair valuations of banking stocks, particularly the leading names,” Vijayakumar said.
Deven Mehta, Research Analyst at Choice Broking, “Nifty may be taking support at 20,900, followed by 20,850 and 20,800. On the higher side, 21,050 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 21,150 and 21,200.”
Asian Markets
Asian shares drifted lower on Monday ahead of a week packed with a quintet of central bank meetings and data on US inflation that could make or break market hopes for an early and rapid fire round of rate cuts next year.
Japan’s Nikkei bounced 1.6% after shedding 3.4% last week amid speculation of an end to super-easy monetary policy. Meanwhile China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.56%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 1.9%.
FII/DII Tracker
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought Indian shares worth Rs 3,632 crore on a net basis on Friday while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 434 crore, according to provisional data from the National Stock Exchange.
Crude Oil
Oil prices inched higher on Monday, extending gains for a second session as US efforts to replenish strategic reserves provided some support, although concerns of crude oversupply and softer fuel demand growth next year lingered.
Brent crude futures rose 48 cents, or 0.6%, to $76.32 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at $71.62 a barrel, up 39 cents, or 0.55%.
Currency Watch
The Indian rupee rose 1 paisa to $83.39 against the US dollar in early trade. The dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against a basket of six major world currencies, surged 0.05% to 104.06 level.
(With inputs from agencies)
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(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)
