Indian Equities Continue Their Winning Streak, Nifty Ends Above 17,800
Indian benchmark indices continued their winning streak after a long weekend on Tuesday as easing WPI inflation aided investor sentiment. WPI Inflation for July came in at 13.93 per cent, compared to 15.18 per cent in June 2022, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry data.
The relief in WPI numbers for July was led by lower food, chemical and metal prices. Analysts now expect a further downtrend in commodity prices because of supply chain normalisation and recession fears in major economies. Also, with inflation easing, investors raised their expectations that the central bank may now go easy on rate hikes.
At Close, the Sensex was up 379.43 points or 0.64 per cent at 59,842.21, and the Nifty was up 127.10 points or 0.72 per cent at 17,825.30. About 1926 shares advanced, 1527 shares declined, and 153 shares remained unchanged.
“Markets maintained their upward bias through the trading session aided by positive global cues and few domestic factors that triggered a rally in realty, automobile and banking stocks. Moderating domestic inflation level has raised expectations that interest rate hike by the central bank may slow down going ahead. While strong FII fund infusion has certainly bolstered the sentiment of investors,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities.
On the Sensex, M&M was the top gainer percentage-wise and ended 2.28 per cent higher at Rs 1,288 apiece on the BSE. M&M gained, a day after the automaker and Volkswagen AG announced the expansion of their MEB alliance to accelerate electrification of the Indian auto market.
Other top gainers include Maruti Suzuki (2.19 per cent), Asian Paints (2.09 per cent), HUL (1.90 per cent), UltraTech Cement (1.29 per cent) and HDFC Bank (1.16 per cent).
Sector wise, Nifty Auto was the top sectoral gainer today, rising 2.54 per cent.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone was the top percentage gainer on the Nifty 50, after its unit agreed to buy inland container depot in western India from Navkar Corp Ltd.
India's currency and debt markets remained closed on Tuesday for a holiday.
(With Reuters Inputs)
