Benchmark equity indices reached historic highs in the early trading session on Monday, as the Sensex crossed the 73,000 milestone and the Nifty surpassed the significant 22,000-mark. The surge was attributed to a robust rally in IT stocks, with the 30-share BSE Sensex gaining 720.33 points to set a new record at 73,288.78. Meanwhile, the Nifty climbed 187.4 points, reaching an all-time high of 22,081.95.
Commenting on Nifty outlook, Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said, “We will begin the week with expectations of 22240 or 22400 as the likely objectives. An interim rest point on the way up is 22013. Collapse theories are not strong now yet. Meanwhile, downside markers may be placed in the vicinity of 21835/790 for now.”
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Dr V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said, “The rally in the market, primarily driven by momentum, is now getting support from fundamentals. The sharp bounce in large-cap IT stocks on the back of slightly positive management commentary indicates that an underperforming segment can surprise on the upside on news of a turnaround in the sector. The IT index which shot up by 5% on Friday will remain firm since HCL Tech and Wipro have more room on the upside.
He added that the nifty has broken out on the upside from the consolidation range and shows signs of further up move. “An important driver of the rally is RIL which is moving up on large delivery based buying on news of commissioning of the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy project in H2 of 2024. RIL, large cap IT and banking majors can provide fodder for the bulls in the near-term.“
ICRA Analytics commented that the key benchmark indices reached a fresh high, supported by buying across the sectors. “Information technology stocks contributed significantly to the gains after two index heavyweight leading IT companies posted better than expected Q3 earnings, which boosted optimism of better-than-expected results among the market participants for the remaining major IT companies,” added.
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Stocks that were top gainers on the NSE were Wipro, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Infosys, and LTI Mindtree, while HDFC Life, Tata Consumers, Eicher Motors, Hindalco, and Bajaj Finance were top losers.
On the BSE, stocks advanced as of 10:08 am were 1,786 against 1,495 stocks that declined; 119 stocks remain unchanged. Total stocks traded were 3,400. The number of stocks that recorded a 52-week high was 354, and those that hit a 52-week low was 9.