Stock market today: Sensex trading at 80k points, Maruti, Adani Ports take lead

Both indices, Nifty and Sensex, opened the day in green. While Nifty was up by 0.13% at 24,351.30 points, Sensex was trading marginally above 80,000 points at 80,142.30 points, up by 0.23%, as of 10:20 am. All broad market indices opened in the green, with India VIX jumping up by 2.92%.

As for sectoral indices, Nifty PSU Bank led by 1.11%, while IT, private bank and oil and gas were trading in red.

During early morning trade, Maruti, Larsen and Toubro, Adani Ports, Titan, and Cipla saw marginal gains, while ONGC, Dr. Reddy, Ultratech cement, Shri Ram Finance and IndusInd bank were amongst the laggards.

Sumit Pokharna, VP & Fundamental Research, Kotak Securities anticipates Q1FY25 to be a weak quarter for most oil and gas companies, except for GAIL and PLNG.

"ONGC’s EBITDA is likely to decline ~6% QoQ on lower net oil realization and also lower oil production. For oil marketing companies, EBITDA could decline ~35-43% on weaker gross refinery margins and also QoQ lower auto-fuel marketing margins. Further, with the full impact of Rs2/liter price cut in March and higher Brent prices, marketing margins on auto fuels were also weaker on a quarterly basis. However, GAIL and PLNG should benefit from higher gas consumption", he continued.

As for corporate earnings, Delta and GM breweries are set to declare their Q1FY25 results today.

As Aditya Gaggar, Director of Progressive Shares notes, "A zone of 51,900-52,000 will be considered a strong support area while 52,900 will serve as a critical hurdle. The railways and fertilizer counters have regained their momentum in yesterday's trade and some of the counters have already given a strong breakout with a considerable volume indicating an extension of their uptrend".

"From the energy sector, we continue to remain bullish on ONGC and Reliance. With gains of over 1.60%, the FMCG sector has given a highest-ever closing which resulted in a fresh all-time high breakout but for confirmation, follow-up buying is a must. Selective buying was witnessed in the metal segment where HindCopper and Nalco have provided a firm breakout. Some stocks from mid and smallcap segments look strong namely, Kopran, Olectra Greentech, Sadhana Nitrochem, Sunteck Realty, and Ultramarine Pigments", he notes.