FIRST TRADE: Sensex adds 600 points, Nifty rises to 23,345; HDFC Life up 7%
Indian shares on Thursday opened higher after a soft US inflation print strengthened bets for a rate cut by the Federal Reserve this year. Meanwhile, the Sensex gained 595.42 points or 0.78 percent to 77,319.5, while the Nifty rose 0.57 percent or 132 points to 23,345.2.
The broader markets also showed strength, with both the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices outperforming the headline indices, with gains of over one percent.
Sector-wise, there were broad gains, with only the FMCG and Pharma indices trading with slight losses, while the PSU Bank index outperformed other indices with gains of 2.6 percent at the last count.
Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services said, “Major indicators from the US suggest that as the swearing-in of Mr. than expected in the US, too, tempering hopes of further rate cuts by the Fed this year.”
The prospect of an end to the conflict in Gaza is another big relief. This global backdrop is good for the market, he added.
Shares are active
HDFC Life: Shares of the private insurer rose as much as 10 percent in intraday trade after the company’s October-December results were better than expected.
RVNL: Shares of the railway PSU ended up touching 7 percent after the company received BSNL’s takeover order.
IL&T Technology: Despite the company’s earnings coming in below expectations, the stock ended up nearly 8 percent.
A technical perspective
Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services said, “Though we could not do much yesterday, the strong close maintains the positive bias that we have been betting on for the past few days. With this, the 23550-640 targets are still in play, but so is the challenge expressed by 23370.” A downward marker may be placed at 23195, James noted.
Asian markets
Eyeing overnight gains in US markets, Asian markets are trading on gains as tepid headline inflation data bolsters hopes of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve going forward. Japan’s key MSCI ex index traded up more than 1 percent at 563.7.
