Stock Market Today: Sensex Climbs Over 300 Points, Nifty Hits Fresh All-Time High

On the 30-share Sensex platform, some of the early gainers included L&T, NTPC, Power Grid, and Maruti Suzuki, while, Wipro, Titan, HCL Technologies, Tech M, and Infosys emerged among the losers.

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Friday opened trading on a strong note following the GDP announcement for the second quarter on Thursday evening. At 9:33 AM, the BSE Sensex surged over 300 points to 67,299.42, while the NSE Nifty50 touched a fresh all-time high of 20,230.60. 

On the 30-share Sensex platform, most of the shares were trading in green. Some of the early gainers included L&T, NTPC, Asian Paints, Power Grid, and Maruti Suzuki. While, Wipro, Titan, HCL Technologies, Tech M, and Infosys emerged among the losers in morning trade. 

In the broader markets, the Nifty Midcap 50 led the gains with an increase of 0.95 per cent, followed by Nifty Midcap Select which climbed 0.83 per cent. 

Sectorally, Nifty IT remained the only laggard on the list with a loss of 0.28 per cent. Among the gainers, Nifty Realty and Media led the indices with increases of 1.77 per cent and 1.44 per cent respectively. 

On Thursday evening, Indian economy’s GDP numbers for the second quarter of the current fiscal year were released. The GDP for the quarter ended September stood at 7.6 per cent, beating analysts’ expectations and even the Reserve Bank of India’s estimates. Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that the numbers ‘display the resilience and strength of the Indian economy in the midst of such testing times globally’. 

In the previous session on Thursday, the S&P BSE Sensex jumped 86.53 points to close at 66,988.44. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 settled above the 20,000-mark for the second consecutive trading session at 20,133.15. 

The Indian rupee recovered in early trade on Friday and appreciated 9 paise to stand at 83.28 against the US dollar, helped by massive equity buying by foreign institutional investors and easing crude oil prices. A positive trend in the equity markts amid robust domestic macroeconomic data helped lift the overall sentiment. The domestic unit closed at 83.39 against the greenback on Thursday, owing to a stronger American currency overseas and surging crude oil prices. 

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) purchased equities worth Rs 8,147.85 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data. Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.32 per cent to $82.83 per barrel.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were quoting lower. The US markets ended mostly with gains on Thursday.

Commenting on the market movements, V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist, Geojit Financial Services, noted, "The market momentum which pushed the Nifty up by 6 per cent in November is likely to be sustained since the incoming data and news are positive. First, the Q2 FY24 GDP growth rate at 7.6 per cent has surpassed expectations. Second, the exit polls results indicate a high possibility of political stability after the general elections. The market will appreciate this." 

Notably, majority of the exit polls on Thursday predicted BJP to be in the lead in Madhya Pradesh, and gave the party an edge in Rajasthan, while stating that Congress was ahead in Telangana and Chhattisgarh.