D-St soars to new heights, Nifty crosses 24600 threshold

The Indian equity benchmark indices extended its record-setting streak for the second consecutive session on Monday, as the Nifty surged to new all-time highs driven by gains in IT stocks amid optimism about demand recovery and anticipation of a U.S. interest rate cut in September.At close, the Sensex was up 145.52 points or 0.18 percent at 80,664.86, and the Nifty was up 84.55 points or 0.35 percent at 24,586.70. About 1837 shares advanced, 1781 shares declined, and 104 shares unchanged.
Despite mixed global cues, the Indian equity indices opened higher and extended the gains as the day progressed with Nifty surpassing 24,600 for the first time to touch a fresh record high of 24,635.05, while BSE Sensex moved closer to its record high of 80,893.51.
ONGC, Shriram Finance, SBI Life Insurance, Bajaj Auto and SBI were the top gainers on the Nifty, while losers included LTIMindtree, Asian Paints, Grasim Industries, Tata Steel and Axis Bank.
On the sectoral front, except IT all other sectoral indices ended in the green with auto, pharma, PSU Bank, realty and oil & gas indices up 1-3 percent.The BSE midcap index gained 1 percent while the smallcap index was up 0.2 percent.
Rupee Close:
On 15 July'24,the Indian rupee ended lower and settled for the day at 83.60 against the US dollar on Monday, pressured by a decline in the Chinese yuan and tracking losses in Asian peers amid rising odds of Donald Trump's re-election as U.S. president.The Chinese yuan weakened after data showed that the world's second largest economy grew at its worst pace in five quarters.
Forex traders reportedly stated a positive trend in domestic equities, wherein benchmark indices touched all-time high levels and significant foreign fund inflows supported the rupee at lower levels.
Trading Guide
Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services reportedly said,the Indian market continues to experience optimism driven by positive expectations from the upcoming Union Budget, robust FII inflows, and better-than-expected results from the IT sector.
Additionally, the initial results from PSU banks have triggered a strong rally in the PSU index. However, the degree of optimism in the broad market is moderating as we are heading towards the budget D-day next week. Also, June's CPI inflation reached a 5-month high due to the heatwave in May-June.
Market experts have recommended buying these five buy-or-sell stocks - Ganesha Ecosphere, IRFC, Bank of Baroda, LIC Housing Finance, and Indus Tower.

(Writer is a Finance Research Analyst, based in Gandhinagar, Gujarat)