Stock Market Today: Nifty and Sensex set to kick off the week on a positive note
- India’s Nifty and Sensex are likely to start the week on the right footing on Monday.
- Nifty and Sensex settled over 1.60% higher on Friday, clinching fresh record highs.
- US Core PCE inflation came in line with estimates, India’s GDP blew out with 8.4% YoY in Q3.
The Sensex 30 and Nifty 50, India’s key benchmark indices, are eyeing a positive start to the week on Monday, taking cues from mostly higher Asian stocks and the advance in the Gift Nifty futures.
Both Indian indices ended Friday with strong gains, capitalizing on robust India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data and the global stocks rally.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty 50 and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex 30 gained nearly 1.65% on the day to settle just below fresh all-time highs of 22,353.30 and 73,819.21 respectively.
Stock market news
- It’s a holiday-shortened week for the Indian markets, as they will be closed, in observance of the Mahashivratri festival on Friday. Meanwhile, the main event risks for markets this week will be the US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony and the all-important US Nonfarm Payrolls data.
- The top performers on Nifty on Friday were L&T, JSW Steel, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel and Titan. Meanwhile, the top losers were Britannia, Sun Pharma, Dr. Reddy, HCL Tech and Infosys.
- Shares of Auto, metal, power, bank and capital rose 1% to 3%.
- L&T commissions Green Hydrogen Plant at A M Naik Heavy Engineering Complex in Hazira.
- L&T is awarded contracts worth INR13,368 crore for the supply of equipment to the Indian Air Force.
- Bharti Airtel deployed additional sites in Thrissur district to densify its network.
- India’s manufacturing sector climbed to a five-month high of 56.9 in February.
- India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded by 8.4% on an annual basis in the third quarter (October-December), as against 7.6% in the previous quarter, data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed Thursday.
- The US stock markets closed higher on Friday even as business activity in the US manufacturing sector contracted at an accelerating pace in February, with the ISM Manufacturing PMI dropping to 47.8 from 49.1 in January, missing the market expectation of 49.5 by a wide margin.
- On Thursday, the key US Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index increased 0.4% for the month and 2.8% from a year ago, as expected.
- Markets are currently pricing in just about a 20% chance that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) could begin easing rates in May, much lower than an over 90% chance a month ago, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. For the June meeting, the probability for a rate cut now stands at about 62%, down from 70% seen a week ago.
Sensex FAQs
What is the Sensex?
The Sensex is a name for one of India’s most closely monitored stock indexes. The term was coined in the 1980s by analyst Deepak Mohoni by mashing the words sensitive and index together. The index plots a weighted average of the share price of 30 of the most established stocks on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Each corporation's weighting is based on its “free-float capitalization”, or the value of all its shares readily available for trading.
What factors drive the Sensex?
Given it is a composite, the value of the Sensex is first and foremost dependent on the performance of its constituent companies as revealed in their quarterly and annual results. Government policies are another factor. In 2016 the government decided to phase out high value currency notes, for example, and certain companies saw their share price fall as a result. When the government decided to cut corporation tax in 2019, meanwhile, the Sensex gained a boost. Other factors include the level of interest rates set by the Reserve Bank of India, since that dictates the cost of borrowing, climate change, pandemics and natural disasters
What are the key milestones for the Sensex?
The Sensex started life on April 1 1979 at a base level of 100. It reached its highest recorded level so far, at 73,328, on Monday, January 15, 2024 (this is being written in Feb 2024). The Index closed above the 10,000 mark for the first time on February 7, 2006. On March 13, 2014 the Sensex closed higher than Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index to become the major Asian stock index with the highest value. The index’s biggest gain in a single day occurred on April 7, 2020, when it rose 2,476 points; its deepest single-day loss occurred on January 21, 2008, when it plunged 1,408 points due the US subprime crisis.
What major corporations are in the Sensex?
Major companies within the Sensex include Reliance Industries Ltd, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ITC Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Tata Steel, HCL Technologies, Infosys, State Bank of India, Sun Pharma, Tata Consultancy Services and Tech Mahindra.
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