Mid-day Mood | Indices off record highs but Nifty sustains above 20,000

Stock Market Today

Indian benchmark indices, the Sensex and Nifty 50 came off their record highs touched earlier in the session on September 14. However, bulls continued to support the market which kept the Nifty firm above the 20,000 mark.

The market had opened at fresh record highs, with the benchmarks further extending opening gains. The Sensex and Nifty 50 scaled fresh all-time highs of 67,771.05 and 20,167.65, respectively, in early trade.

Upbeat cues from Asian markets as investors shrugged jitters from the slightly higher-than-expected US consumer price index for August helped lift sentiment for domestic equities as well. The US CPI print for August rose 3.7 percent on year, slightly higher than consensus estimate of 3.6 percent. However, investors chose not to react much to the data as they do not see an impact of the slightly hotter US August inflation print on the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision next week.

"Markets are likely to maintain the upward bias amid recovery in other Asian gauges. The August US CPI figures reinforce speculation that the Federal Reserve may pause its rate hikes in next week's policy meeting," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities.

Along with this, the sharp profit booking seen across small and mid-caps in the previous two sessions triggered buying from lower levels, prompting gains across sectors. All major sectoral indices traded in the green, lifting the overall market sentiment.

At 11.29 am, the Sensex was up 48.88 points or 0.07 percent at 67,515.87, and the Nifty was up 25.80 points or 0.13 percent at 20,095.80.The overall market sentiment was also titled towards gainers as about 2,244 shares rose, 751 fell, and 86 were unchanged. This indicates that around three stocks rose for each one that fell.

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"Moreover, the technical landscape continues to be bullish with Nifty bulls now aiming aggressively at the psychological 20500 mark. However, persistent FII selling and expensive valuations could limit the upside going ahead," Tapse added.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities also expects the momentum in the Nifty and the broad market to continue. "Nifty could stay in the 19,865 – 20,140 band for the near term," he stated.

Stocks and sectors

Metal names like Hindalco and Tata Steel were the top gainers on the Nifty 50. While Hindalco surged over 4 on expectations of a demand recovery in China's construction sector, Tata Steel rose over 2 percent as the company is in the advanced stage of negotiations with the UK government to secure approximately £500 million in government-backed funding.

Strong gains across metal names also lifted the Nifty Metal index nearly 2 percent higher.

UPL was another big gainer, soaring over 3 percent after brokerage firm Antique Stock Broking upgraded the stock to a 'buy' due to stabilizing of product price and receding channel inventory.

Sugar stocks were also on a roll after brokerage DAM Capital initiated coverage on several stocks with a 'buy' rating, anticipating strong earnings growth for FY23-26.

The broader market also staged a strong bounceback, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 jumped around a percent each.

Among laggards, Asian Paints slipped over 1 percent in trade on increased competition after Grasim announced the launch of its paints business under the brand name Birla Opus in the fourth quarter of FY24.

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