Nifty, Sensex rise as FOMC minutes boost September rate cut hopes

Grasim Industries, Tata Consumer Products, Infosys, Tata Steel, and ONGC were the top gainers on Nifty.

Benchmark indices Nifty and Sensex were off to a positive start on August 22 as the US Fed officials indicated that a rate cut in the September policy meeting was becoming increasingly likely according to FOMC minutes from the July meeting released on Wednesday.

At about 9:30 am,  the Sensex was up 210.48 points or 0.26 percent at 81,115.78, and the Nifty was up 62.5 points or 0.25 percent at 24,832.7. About 2,232 shares advanced, 688 shares declined, and 105 shares unchanged.

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"Markets are in positive territory as oil prices continued to fall on demand concerns, and minutes from the most recent Federal Reserve meeting hinted at potential rate cuts amid signs of easing inflation and a rising unemployment rate. Financial markets anticipate significant policy easing, potentially including multiple cuts by year-end," Avdhut Bagkar, technical and derivatives analyst at StoxBox, said.

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"All eyes now shift to Jerome Powell's upcoming Jackson Hole speech on Friday at 10:00 AM ET, where market participants await confirmation of the rate cut timing and magnitude. Nifty is poised for upward momentum, targeting its all-time high of 25078.30," Prashanth Tapse, Senior Vice President at Mehta Equities, said.

Mirroring the overall trend, the broader market or the mid-small cap indexes, also traded in the green, outperforming the headline indices as they rose 0.4 and 0.5 percent, respectively. Analysts suggest that the movement in the two is largely stock specific.

Meanwhile, the India VIX, also known as the volatility index to assess market anxiety, eased further by 0.2 percent to be at around the 13.3 levels.

Read more: Zomato's Paytm ticketing biz buy gets thumbs up from brokerages; up to 27% upside seen

As for stock movements, food aggregator Zomato was marking headlines after it is set to acquire Paytm's entertainment and ticketing business for Rs 2,048 crore. This comes as the food delivery major looks to expand its presence in the 'going-out' segment, while the struggling fintech seeks to focus on its core financial services offerings. Zomato shares rallied 3 percent to be at Rs 267 in morning trade.

IndiGo or Interglobe Aviation was also focused after HSBC and Jefferies issued bullish calls on the airlines' business class launch. Analysts suggest that the introduction ends the monopoly held by Vistara and Air India. IndiGo shares also notched up 3 percent to Rs 4,434.

Nifty FMCG and PSU Bank index were the brightest sparks in today's market after gains in Tata Consumer Products, ITC, and HUL helped the index higher. As for laggards, the Nifty Energy, Auto and Pharma indexes. Stocks such as Adani Green, Tata Power and NTPC from the Energy sector edged lower.

"We have seen a strong up move in markets with nifty trading above 24,700 levels. Today Nifty can approach its next resistance of 25,000 levels. Traders holding long positions are advised to book profits in their long position near the mentioned resistance," says Deven Mehata, research analyst at Choice Broking. "Nifty can find support at 24,700 followed by 24,650 and 24,600. On the higher side, 24,850 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 24,900 and 25,000," he added.

Grasim Industries, Tata Consumer Products, Infosys, Tata Steel, and ONGC were the top gainers on Nifty. Power Grid Corp, Dr Reddy's, Shriram Finance, M&M, and Divi's Labs were the losers.

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