Stock Market Logs Fresh Highs, Sensex Closes At 69,825, Nifty Settles Near 21,000

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Friday, rallied up and hit fresh lifetime highs, taking cues from the Reserve Bank of India’s decision to keep the repo rates unchanged. The BSE Sensex touched a new peak of 69,893.80 and settled a little lower at 69,825.60, climbing over 300 points. The NSE Nifty50 crossed the 21,000 mark to achieve a record high of 21,006.10, and closed marginally lower at 20,972.15. 

On the 30-share Sensex platform, HCL Tech, JSW Steel, Infosys, HDFC Bank, and Axis Bank emerged as the prime gainers for the day. On the other hand, ITC, M&M, Bajaj Finance, Tata Motors, and Nestle stood among the losers for the day.

The broader markets, however, closed trading in red mostly, with the Nifty Smallcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 50 leading the losses and trading lower by 1.09 per cent and 1.08 per cent respectively. The Nifty 100 and Nifty 200 indices remained the only gainers and increased 0.15 per cent and 0.09 per cent respectively. 

 Next 50 leading the gains with an increase of 0.80 per cent. Other major gainers in the day included the Nifty Micap 50 and Nifty Midcap 100, both up by 0.65 per cent and 0.59 per cent respectively. Apart from the Nifty50, the other index in loss was the Nifty Microcap 250, which dipped 0.06 per cent.

Sectorally, the indices displayed mixed behaviour during the day. Among the gainers, the Nifty IT and Private Bank indices remained in the lead, up by 1.31 per cent and 1.01 per cent respectively. The Nifty FMCG index led the losses and was trading lower by 0.99 per cent, followed by the Nifty Pharma index, which slipped 0.80 per cent during the day.

In the previous session on Thursday, the equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, broke away from their rally and settled with some losses as trading ended. The BSE Sensex fell about 132 points to close at 69,521.69, while the NSE Nifty50 just about managed to stay above 20,900 and slipped 37 points to settle at 20,901.15 as the markets closed for the day.

Among specific stocks on the NSE, HCL Tech increased by 2.85 per cent during the day. LTI Mindtree, and JSW Steel remained among other major gainers during the day.

The RBI announced that it has decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent. This marked the fifth consecutive pause on rate hikes from the regulator.

The domestic rupee depreciated 2 paise to settle at 83.38 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday. Forex traders noted that stronger American currency in the overseas market and a rebound in crude oil prices impacted investor sentiment. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 83.35 and eventually closed at 83.38 against the US dollar. A day earlier, the rupee depreciated 4 paise to settle at 83.36 against the US dollar. 

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, gained 2.27 per cent to touch $75.73 per barrel. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,564.03 crore on Thursday, exchange data revealed.