Market hits fresh peaks, Sensex rises 1245 pts, Nifty crosses 22,300

The domestic equity market indices scaled fresh peaks on Friday led by strong overnight signals from US markets and better than expected Q3 GDP data.At close, the Sensex was up 1,245.05 points or 1.72 percent at 73,745.35, and the Nifty was up 355.95 points or 1.62 percent at 22,338.75. About 2079 shares advanced, 1214 shares declined, and 77 shares unchanged.
Tata Steel, L&T, JSW Steel, Titan Company and IndusInd Bank were the top gainers on the Nifty, while losers included Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Sun Pharma, HCLTechnologies, Infosys and Britannia Industries.
On the sectoral front, Metal index up 4 percent, while auto, bank, capital good and oil & gas up 2 percent each. On the other hand, healthcare index down 1 percent and Information Technology index down 0.5 percent. BSE midcap and smallcap indices added 0.5 percent each.
Rupee Close:
The Indian rupee appreciated 4 paise to 82.85 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday on the back of robust GDP data and massive inflow of foreign funds in the domestic capital markets.
A positive sentiment in the equity markets also supported the local currency, though the higher level of the dollar index came as a negative bias, forex traders said.
Trading Guide:
Market experts have recommended nine stocks to buy for Friday- McDowell-N,Berger Paints, L&TFH, Shilpa Medicare, Suzlon Energy, Tata Elxsi, Borosil Renewables, Ramkrishna Forgings, and Rico Auto Industries.

RBI withdraw Rs 20000 notes from circulation

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had announced the withdrawal of Rs 2000 denomination banknotes from circulation.The total value of Rs 2000 banknotes in circulation, which was Rs 3.56 lakh crores at the close of business on May 19, 2023, when the withdrawal of Rs 2000 banknotes was announced, has declined to Rs 8470 crore at the close of business on February 29, 2024. Thus, 97.62% of the Rs 2000 banknotes in circulation as on May 19, 2023, has since been returned. The Rs 2000 banknotes continue to be legal tender: RBI.

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