New Delhi: Indian stock indices extended their gains from the previous week and opened on a positive note Monday, with all sectoral indices tracking in the green.
Markets finally ended a five-week losing streak and gained nearly a per cent last week, according to Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research, Religare Broking.
Benchmark Sensex and Nifty were at 65,603.39 and 19,509.95 points, up 0.33 per cent and 0.38 per cent, respectively. Nifty Metal, Nifty IT, and Nifty PSU bank indices were the top movers this morning.
Indian economy witnessing a firm GDP growth rate of 7.8 per cent in the first quarter (April-June) of 2023-24 is likely to have improved investors’ sentiment lately. With a GDP growth of 7.8 per cent, India continues to be the fastest-growing major economy.
Against this backdrop, Morgan Stanley has upwardly revised their economic growth forecast for India for fiscal year 2024 after April-June quarter data showed it grew at its quickest pace in a year. The multinational investment bank raised growth forecast to 6.4 per cent from its earlier estimate of 6.2 per cent.
Notably, Sensex recently breached the 67,000 mark for the first time in mid-July. Firm economic outlook, firm global markets, and a relative moderation in inflation then contributed to the bull run in Indian stocks. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have remained net buyers in Indian stock markets for the sixth straight month till August, according to data from the National Securities Depository (NSDL).
The benchmark Sensex is now hovering at its off-high, with June and July inflation figures relatively having depressed the market sentiments. Retail inflation in India rose sharply in July to 7.44 per cent, in the process breached RBI's 6 per cent upper tolerance target, largely due to a sharp spurt in vegetable, fruit, and pulses prices.
“In India a large number of small caps, particularly the micro caps, are rising, mainly driven by market momentum. Many newbie investors are chasing such stocks for quick gains. Many of these stocks don’t have strong fundamentals and investment in these stocks can be very risky,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
“At this juncture, long-term investors should prefer the safety of high quality large-caps,” Vijayakumar added. (ANI)
According to Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research, Religare Broking, “In the absence of any major event, the performance of the global markets, especially the US, will remain on the radar for cues.”
—ANI