Indian stock market opened at fresh all-time highs in Tuesday’s trading session. Sensex surged to 79,840.40, climbing 364 points or 0.46%, while the Nifty hit 24,228.75, up 86 points or 0.36%. The Bank Nifty also opened strong, gaining 219 points or 0.42% to reach 52,079.3. Similarly, the Nifty Midcap 100 started the day at 56,462.70, rising by 170.20 points or 0.30%.
HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, and Power Grid were the top gainers, while Tata Motors, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and ICICI Bank were among the biggest losers.
However, the initial euphoria was short-lived as some indices turned red soon after the opening bell, likely due to profit booking. This trend was particularly noticeable in the auto sector, which saw declines following the release of June sales figures.
V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, provided insight into the market’s performance. “Nifty has delivered 10.4% returns in the first half of 2024, on top of the 20% returns in 2023. These are impressive returns. An important feature of this bull market, which began after the COVID crash of March 2020 (Nifty at 7511), is that it has been devoid of any significant correction. The only correction above 5% was on June 4th, in response to the election results, but this was followed the very next day by a sharp recovery. This one-way move in the market can be attributed to the successful ‘buy on dips’ strategy being followed by domestic investors, both institutional and retail.”
“There is a sustained flow of money into the market through mutual funds, particularly through SIPs. So long as this market construct holds steady, the market will remain resilient. It is worth noting that some stocks in the broader market have bubble valuations and are, therefore, vulnerable to a sharp correction”, he added.
Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research at Kotak Securities, echoed similar sentiments. “We are of the view that the short-term texture of the market is positive, but due to temporary overbought conditions, we could see some profit booking at higher levels.”
The Indian market benchmarks had recovered on July 1 from last week’s downturn, with the Nifty 50 closing above the 24,000 level at 24,142, up 131 points. The Sensex ended the day at 79,476, gaining 443 points.
According to the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL), FPIs ramped up their investments in the last week of June, with net investments amounting to Rs 16,672.2 crore. Notably, Friday alone saw an influx of Rs 6,966.08 crore, marking a turnaround in FPI sentiment for the month.
In Asian markets, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong were trading in the positive territory on Tuesday, while Seoul quoted lower. US markets ended in the green on Monday.
(Inputs from Ani)
