India: Sensex, Nifty close near their record highs

Mumbai: Indian equity benchmarks on Thursday closed on a strong note with the Nifty around 25,150 after touching a fresh lifetime high.

The Sensex, at the close of today's trading, ended at 82,134.61, up 349.05 points.
During the trading hours on Thursday, the Nifty touched its record high at 25,174.55 and the Sensex rose to 82,220.68.

Both the benchmarks closed near their record highs, with the Nifty 50 advancing for the 12th consecutive session.

Key movers on the NSE Nifty 50 included Tata Motors, Bajaj Finserv, Britannia Industries, Bajaj Finance, and BPCL. At the same time, laggards were Grasim, Mahindra & Mahindra, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, JSW Steel, and HDFC Life Insurance.

The Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices fell for the second session, while the Nifty Auto and FMCG indices reversed their two-session losing streaks, driven by gains in Tata Motors, Britannia, and ITC.

Conversely, the Nifty Metal sector declined for the third consecutive session, led down by Hindustan Zinc and JSW Steel. The Nifty Pharma, despite hitting a record high, ended in the red.

The Reliance Industries' 47th AGM drew significant attention from the market, with Mukesh Ambani announcing Rs 75,000 crore investment in New Energy. The company has also announced that it will consider a 1:1 bonus at the board meeting scheduled on September 5. As a result of the announcements, the company shares upped by 1.55 per cent after the close of the market.

"The monthly expiry day was a roller-coaster ride for participants, ultimately ending on a positive note. Nifty started flat but gradually moved higher in the first half. However, sharp swings in the latter half kept traders on their toes. Sector-wise, mixed trends persisted, with auto, FMCG, and energy emerging as the top gainers, while the pharma and metal sectors saw some profit-taking. The disappointment was the underperformance of the broader indices," said Ajit Mishra - SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd. observing Thursday's market.

"In the past six months, we've seen Nifty consistently breaking all-time highs, and I believe this rally still has room to run. While a short-term pullback is possible, the overall upward momentum is likely to continue, potentially pushing Nifty and Sensex to even higher levels," Vinnaayak Mehta, Founder & Managing Partner The Infinity Group.

Later this week, the markets will be reading the first quarter GDP data which is scheduled on Friday. The Reserve Bank of India, in its latest monetary policy meeting, projected GDP growth for 2024-25 at 7.2 per cent, with growth for Q1 expected at 7.1 per cent.

India's GDP grew by an impressive 8.2 per cent during the financial year 2023-24, continuing to be the fastest-growing major economy.