Stock market closing 12 July: Sensex closes past 80k, IT and media sectors make most gains

Both indices, Sensex and Nifty closed the day with significant gains, and in greens. While Nifty closed at 24,502.15 up by 186.20 points or 0.77%, BSE Sensex crept past the 80,000 mark to close at 80,519.34, inching up by around 622 points.

During the day, Shri Ram Finance (up by 2.96%), TCS (up by 2.42%), Wipro (up by 1.73%), LTI Mindtree (up by 1.44%) and ONGC (up by 1.2%) gained significant ground and were amongst the top gainers. On the other hand, Maruti (down by 1.06%), HDFC Life (down by 0.52%), Britannia (down by 0.40%), Asian Paints (down by 0.30%) and Divis Labs (down by 0.28%) were amongst the leading laggards.

Most broad market indices, except for Nifty next 50, midcap 50, midcap 150 and small cap 250 closed the day in green. India VIX saw a significant drop of 1.92% during the day. As for sectoral indices, auto, metal, PSU banks, consumer durables and realty ended the day in red, with realty down by 1.5%. IT, which jumped up 4.53%, financial services and media (up by 2.08%) registered gains during the day.

Out of the 2,765 stocks traded during the day, 1,108 saw advances while another 1,577 saw declines. About 80 stocks remained unchanged. 164 stocks hit their 52-week high price while 11 stocks also reached their 52-week low prices. 101 stocks managed to touch the upper circuit during the day, while 78 stocks remained in the lower circuit.

As Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research, Kotak Securities highlighted, the Nifty-50 index and Sensex gained around 0.7% each in the past week, scaling new all-time highs as market expectations turned further bullish over the past week. On the other hand, the mid-cap index gained around 0.2% and small-cap index lost 0.1% underperforming large-caps.

"As such, India, already at record highs, underperformed global markets, especially other EMs, which witnessed a strong rally on expectations of improvement in the growth outlook. The markets were steady ahead of Q1FY25 earnings season and the Union Budget for FY2025. Markets remained optimistic about strong government support for the economy, especially for the manufacturing sector, in the upcoming Union Budget. Sectoral indices were mixed on a week-on week basis. IT, FMCG and Oil and Gas gained the most, gaining between 2 to 3%, while Bank Nifty was flat during the week", said Chouhan.

Sectors in action

"On the other hand, Metal Reality, Auto and Power index lost around 2% each during the week. Within the Nifty Index, ONGC (+6.5%), ITC (+5.3%) and HDFC Life (+4.5%) gained the most, while M&M (-6.4%), Tata Steel (-3.4%) and Shriram Finance (-2.5%) lost the most on a weekly basis. Meanwhile, both FPIs and DIIs were net buyers in the same period. Going forward, D-street will focus on the macro trends, inflation and global situation including geo-political concerns", he continued.

Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd. recommends that traders continue with a “buy on dips” approach, focusing on stock selection and trade management. Besides domestic factors, they should also closely monitor global indices, especially the US markets, for cues.

"Markets resumed their uptrend after a brief pause, gaining nearly one percent. Initially, a slight increase in IT majors and select heavyweights from other sectors sparked a sharp rise in the morning hours. However, some profit-taking at higher levels tempered the gains as the day went on. Ultimately, the Nifty index closed at 24,502, up by 0.77%. In addition to the strong performance in the IT sector, the energy and FMCG sectors also performed well, while the realty and auto sectors lagged. The broader indices underperformed the benchmark, ending flat to slightly positive. The rotational buying across heavyweights is helping the Nifty index maintain its positive momentum, but sustained levels above 24,500 are needed to reach the new milestone of 25,000", he noted.