RIL, Infosys, banks help Nifty close above 9900 for 1st time; ITC limits Sensex gains
The market started off the week on a positive note Monday as the Nifty closed above psychological 9,900-mark for the first time, backed by banking & financials, select technology stocks and Reliance Industries. However, the sharp correction in ITC capped Sensex gains.
The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 54.03 points at 32,074.78 and the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 29.60 points at 9,915.95 despite negative breadth.
Given the current market strength, bulls are not ready to give up easily and hence, it seems the Nifty is likely to touch 10,000 level soon, even though experts consistently saying valuations are stretched.
Sridhar Sivaram, Investment Director, Enam Holdings expects some challenges for the market in the short term but he remains positive over the medium term.
According to him, earnings could recover in the second half of this year and next year as well due to GST (goods and services tax) and interest rates transmission.
The broader markets underperformed benchmarks as the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices closed flat. About 1,396 shares declined against 1,306 advancing shares on the exchange.
Nifty Bank closed above 24,000-mark for the first time today, up 0.32 percent at 24,015.05, backed by ICICI Bank (up 1.7 percent) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 0.3 percent).
The rally in ICICI Bank was seen after Gujarat High Court dismissed Essar Steel’s petition against RBI, saying there would be no relief to Essar Steel w.r.t Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code proceeding.
SBI gained 0.4 percent after its subsidiary SBI Life Insurance filed DRHP with SEBI for IPO.
Wipro rallied 3 percent ahead of board meeting on July 20 to consider the proposal of share buyback.
ITC was biggest loser among Sensex stocks, down 3.4 percent as sources told CNBC-TV18 that the government may rework calculation of GST + cess and NCCD (national calamity contingent duty) on tobacco. Revised mechanism of GST, cess and NCCD on tobacco will go for GST Council approval, sources said.
Vedanta was up 2.7 percent after Motilal Oswal upgraded the stock to buy with a target price of Rs 311, citing oil & aluminium volumes and tight zinc supply.
Reliance Industries continued to gain for 11th consecutive session, up 1.3 percent today, taking total gains to nearly 13 percent in 11 sessions. The rally helped the stock to cross market capitalisation of Rs 5 lakh crore and made it the most valuable company on the exchange.
Infosys rebounded 1.4 percent after Friday’s late sell-off. Majority of global brokerage houses gave the company’s earnings performance a thumbs up and believe that the company stood steady in challenging times.
Jubilant Foodworks surged 9.3 percent after better-than-expected earnings in June quarter. Profit grew by 25 percent YoY.
