Markets Update: Sensex Up 143 Points, Nifty Above 24,600; IT Companies in Red

The domestic equity market on Monday continued its rally as bulls take over the positive baton from solid higher leads from Wall Street.

The BSE Sensex on Monday rose 143.48 points or 0.18 per cent to 80,580.32 in the opening trade, while the NSE Nifty jumped 71 points or 0.29 per cent to 24,612.15.

The oil & gas index led the market on August 19, whereas IT index moved in the opposite direction with the shares being traded in the red zone.

Among 30 Sensex companies, 20 shares were in the green. Among the top gainers were NTPC, Titan, Tata Steel, UltraTech Cement, and SBI, rising up to 2.27 per cent. However, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Nestle, TCS and Infosys were in the red falling up to 0.88 per cent.

V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said, “The 397 point rally in the Nifty last Friday reinforces the resilience of the ongoing bull market and the consistent success of the buy on dips strategy.

The fact that this ability of the market to bounce back is happening when valuations are elevated is significant. It is also important to note that all corrections in this rally have been brief unlike in the past when corrections have been prolonged. The complete dominance of the DII and retail investors over the market is the single major factor driving this bull run even though there are fundamental factors supporting the rally. Investors should keep this in mind.”

The domestic stock market on August 16 jumped 1 per cent amid positive global cues.

The sharp dip in the dollar index to 102.4 might nudge the FIIs to invest in India but the lofty valuations have been forcing them to sell. How the FIIs will address this contradiction remains to be seen. The sharp rally in gold prices is positive for gold-jewellery and gold loan companies, Vijayakumar added.

Prashanth Tapse, senior vice-president (research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said, “Markets are likely to trade higher as bulls will aim to take over the positive baton from solid higher leads from Wall Street. All eyes will now be on the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, where the Fed Chair Powell will deliver a highly anticipated speech on Friday, August 23. We suspect Powell is likely to set the stage for the first rate cut in years.

Hopefully, this September unemployment report gets the Fed to cut interest rates by 50 basis points. Among the positive catalysts, the fear of slowdown and fear of inflation in the US is off the front pages. Technically, Nifty has support at 24101 with aggressive targets at 24900-25100 zone.”