Stock Market Updates: Sensex Jumps 500 Points, Nifty Around 22,500; Financials Lead – News18

Sensex Today: Equity benchmark indices opened on a strong note in the first trading session of the financial year 2024-25, amid supportive cues from global peers.

Power Grid, Infosys and Bajaj Finserv were the early movers, while Maruti was down among the Sensex 30 shares.

Broader indices rose up to 0.8 per cent.

In the week ahead, global market trends, fund flows and the RBI policy meet on outcome are the key events that shall guide the market sentiment.

On Monday, shares of auto companies will be in focus owing to the monthly sales report.

Among individual stocks, Paytm will be in focus amid reports of ‘voluntary resignations’ even as the firm denies layoff buzz. Zomato too will be on investors radar after the food-delivery firm received Rs 23.26 crore GST notice from Karnataka tax authorities.

Market View | Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services

The undertone of the market is bullish and there is momentum in the market. The market has been showing signs of consolidation but the spurt in Nifty by 322 points on the last 2 trading days indicates that the upward momentum can sustain.

There are reports of mutual funds introducing restrictions on redemptions from the smallcaps schemes. This is in response to the ‘ frothy’ valuation in this segment and the concerns expressed by the regulator. The consequence of this action would be higher flows of funds into the largecaps, which, in turn, can lift the largecaps. So, watch out for largecaps in automobiles, capital goods, financials and select pharma which are likely to post good Q4 numbers.

The RBI monetary policy meet scheduled for April 3 to 5 is likely to keep rates unchanged and, therefore, is unlikely to impact the market.

Global markets

Asian stocks were seen trading on a positive note after China reported expansion in its manufacturing activity in March, a first since September. Hang Seng, Shanghai and Kospi were up over 0.5 per cent each.

Later tonight, the US market shall react to the latest Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) reading, which rose 0.3 per cent month-over-month on Friday. Dow and Nasdaq futures were up over 100 points in post-market deals.