Srinagar, Apr 9: The Indian equity markets opened on a strong note on Tuesday, April 9, with the benchmark Sensex crossing the 75,000 mark for the first time and the Nifty 50 scaling a new peak, going past 22,750.
The rally was supported by gains in heavyweight stocks such as Infosys, Bajaj Twins, Maruti Suzuki, and HDFC Bank, which continued their upward march after starting the week at record highs.
The market breadth favored the gainers, with around 1,622 shares advancing, 589 declining, and 88 remaining unchanged. Experts expect the Nifty 50 to continue making new highs in the coming days, as the bullish undertone remains intact. They predict the index to stay in the 22,529-22,810 range in the near term.
The cheer was not limited to the frontline indices, as the broader markets also performed well. The Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices outperformed the leading indices, surging up to 0.4 percent. India VIX, the volatility index, also cooled off by 1 percent, trading around the 11 level.
Sectorally, the Nifty IT and Nifty Realty indices were the top performers of the day.
The gains in Nifty IT were driven by Infosys, after a global brokerage firm upgraded the stock to ‘buy’ and raised the target price. The firm sees an early case for Infosys’ FY25 demand recovery, with the normalization of post-COVID-19 spike in IT spending expected by mid-CY24.
On the other hand, the gains in the Nifty Realty index were led by Sobha and Godrej Properties. Godrej Properties reported its highest-ever quarterly sales in Q4FY24, registering a 135 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth.
Globally, the US markets ended near the flatline as investors await the release of the consumer price index (CPI) report on April 10, which will provide further insight into the impact of the Federal Reserve’s rate policy on inflation. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast the US CPI to show some easing of inflation pressures, but the core gauge, which excludes food and energy costs, is expected to remain above the Fed’s 2 percent target.
In the Asia-Pacific region, markets were mixed, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbing 0.5 percent, while South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.2 percent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 0.7 percent.