Stock market closing: Sensex inches 800 points up to close at 79,705.91, auto, IT, PSU bank indices rally

Both Sensex and Nifty registered significant gains before closing for the week. While Sensex inched up about 820 points to close at 79,705.91 points, Nifty closed at 24,355.75, up by 0.99% on August 9th, 2024.

Eicher Motors (up by 4.8%), Shri Ram Finance (up by 2.95%), Tata Motors (up by 2.91%), Grasim (up by 2.63%), and HCL Tech (up by 2.59%) were amongst the top gainers of the day, while HDFC Life (down by 0.37%), Asian Paints (down by 0.19%), Hindustan Unilever (down by 0.15%), Cipla (down by 0.06%) and ITC (down by 0.04%) were amongst the leading laggards.

All broad market indices closed the day in green, with Nifty 50, Next 50, 100, 200 and microcap 250 gaining over 1% each, while India VIX dipped by 7.45%. Amongst sectoral indices, auto, IT, media, PSU, realty and oil and gas indices raked in gains of over 1% each to close the week in green.

Out of the 2,780 stocks traded during the day, 1,658 stocks saw declines, 1,028 declined while 94 remained unchanged. 122 stocks hit their 52-week high price, while 29 stocks also hit their 52-week low price. 127 stocks managed to stay in the upper circuit today, or the highest permissible trading price during a single trading session, while 44 hit the lower circuit.

Amol Athawale, VP-technical Research, Kotak Securities notes that during the week, market slipped below 20 day SMA (Simple Moving Average), but in the second half of the week it trimmed some losses and eventually closed at 24,367/79,722. Technically, the larger texture of the market is still in to the weak side.

"However, as long as it is trading above 24,200/79,200, the pullback formation is likely to continue up to 20 day SMA or 24,525/80,400. Further upside may also continue which could lift the market till 24,625/80,800. On the other side, dismissal of 24,200/79,200 could accelerate the selling pressure below which it could slip till 24,000/78,700 or 50 day SMA and 23,850/78,200. For Bank Nifty now, 50,000 would be the immediate reference point for the bulls. Above 50,000, it could bounce back up to 50,800 and 50 day SMA or 51,200. On the flip side, below 50,000 uptrend would be vulnerable", he continued.

Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research, Kotak Securities explains that the Nifty-50 index and Sensex declined around 1.5% each in the past week, while the mid-cap index lost around 1.3% and small-cap index lost 2% underperforming large-caps.

"Market focus has swiftly moved on from the Union Budget, unveiled in the week, to the ongoing QFY25 earnings season and global factors. The market performance was impacted by a confluence of global factors, such as (1) a sharper-than-expected weakening of the US labor markets, (2) a sharp appreciation of USD-JPY, resulting in the unwinding of Yen carry trades globally and (3) increase in geo-political tensions in the Middle East", he said.

"Sectoral indices were largely negative a week-on week basis except for Nifty FMCG, pharma and media. Sectoral indices like capital goods, consumer durable, auto, metal, reality, power and oil and gas list between 1 to 3%. While Bank Nifty was also weak falling around 1.5% during the week. Within the Nifty Index, Cipla (+3.1%), Eicher Motors (+2.4%) and JSW Steel (+1.6%) gained the most, while Titan (-4.4%), Hindalco (-4.3%) and Asian Paints (-4.3%) lost the most. Going forward, D-street will focus on the macro trends, inflation and global situation including geo-political concerns", continued Chouhan.