Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty ended higher on Thursday, driven by a rally in blue-chip stocks. According to reports from Business Standard, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended 273.55 points, or 0.35 per cent, higher at 77,928.15, helped by fag-end buying. During the volatile session, the Sensex hit a high of 78,007.09 and a low of 77,440.91, gyrating 566.18 points. The 50-share NSE Nifty advanced by 66.95 points, or 0.28 per cent, to end at 24,317.15. The market performance came after the US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged, though a growing number of policymakers indicated a rate hike later this year. As per The Economic Times, the Fed's decision to maintain the status quo was largely anticipated, but hawkishness remained due to continued emphasis on inflation control.
From the Sensex pack, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Coal India, and Reliance Industries were among the major winners. As reported by Business Standard, Adani Ports, InterGlobe Aviation, Bajaj Finserv and Bharat Electronics were among the laggards. The market performance was supported by strong buying in large-cap stocks, particularly in the banking and automotive sectors. According to The Economic Times, M&M, Coal India and Maruti Suzuki led the gains, while Adani Ports, HDFC Life and Shriram Finance emerged as the top laggards. The broader markets, however, ended the session in the deep red, with Nifty Smallcap 100 and Nifty Midcap 100 indices falling up to 0.6%. Among the most actively traded stocks in volume terms on NSE were Vodafone Idea (23.04 crore shares), Suzlon Energy (11.62 crore shares), IRB Infra Dev (7.86 crore shares), JP Power (6.89 crore shares), Yes Bank (5.63 crore shares), Redington (5.61 crore shares) and Sagility India (5.48 crore shares).
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹2,981.87 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data reported by Business Standard. This continued foreign investment inflow provided additional support to the market recovery. The sustained FII buying helped offset some of the global uncertainties and provided confidence to domestic investors. As per The Economic Times, strengthening FII inflows, a firmer rupee, and encouraging Q1FY27 supported sentiment, prompting investors to treat dips as selective buying opportunities. Among the most active stocks in value terms on NSE were HDFC Bank (₹2,692 crore), Infosys (₹2,655 crore), Kalyan Jewellers (₹2,083 crore), ICICI Bank (₹2,023 crore), Redington (₹1,798 crore), M&M (₹1,587 crore) and RIL (₹1,569 crore).
According to The Economic Times, Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, noted that the Nifty remained largely range-bound as the index failed to give a clear directional move. He observed that the index has been sustaining above the critical 50 EMA on the daily timeframe and noted that the RSI is in a bullish crossover and continues to trend higher, supported by a rising trendline. The analyst expects sentiment to remain positive in the short term, with the potential to rise towards 24,500, while immediate support is placed at 24,200, below which the index might lose its current momentum. Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Investments, noted that a sharp uptick in US bond yields signalled growing pressure for a possible rate hike in the near future, keeping global investors on edge, while renewed crude oil volatility amid West Asian tensions added to external uncertainty. As a result, domestic equities remained range-bound with sharp intraday swings, as investors weighed global headwinds against resilient domestic fundamentals.
According to Business Standard, Auto climbed 1.58 per cent, Energy 0.73 per cent, Consumer Discretionary 0.48 per cent, Oil & Gas 0.38 per cent, Top 10 Banks 0.20 per cent, Metal 0.17 per cent and Consumer Durables 0.13 per cent. However, Realty declined 2.10 per cent, Services 1.14 per cent, MidSmall Private Banks Quality Tilt 0.82 per cent, Insurance 0.69 per cent, Capital Goods 0.61 per cent, Industrials 0.42 per cent and Commodities 0.39 per cent. Among the stocks that witnessed strong buying interest were Balkrishna Industries, Redington, Sona BLW Precision, LT Foods, Exide Industries, Zee Entertainment Enterprises and Hero MotoCorp. Among the stocks that hit their 52-week highs on NSE included Redington, Sona BLW Precision, Exide Industries, TVS Motor, Star Health, RBL Bank and CreditAccess Grameen. Out of the 3,419 stocks that traded on the NSE on July 30, Thursday, 1,326 stocks witnessed advances, 1,973 saw declines while 120 stocks remained unchanged.
