Stock market today: Nifty opens above 25k, metal inches up over 1% in early trade on August 1st, 2024

Both indices Sensex and Nifty opened the day in greens. While Nifty inched up around 100 points at 25,053.00, opening at over 25,000 points for the first time, Sensex was up by over 300 points, trading at 82,078.08 as of 9:40 am.

All broad market indices opened the day in green, except for India VIX, which dipped by over 1% in early trade. With the exception of media, pharma and realty, all other sectoral indices were trading in green during early trade. Metal took a significant lead and was up by 1.54% this morning.

Maruti, Coal India, Hindalco, JSW Steel and Power Grid Corporation of India were amongst the early gainers during trade today. On the other hand, Mahindra and Mahindra, BPCL, Hero Moto Corp, Eicher Motors and Sun Pharma were the leading laggards in early trade.

Aditya Gaggar, director of Progressive Shares notes that Indian equities ended the month of July at record level of 24,951. The index is heading towards the psychological barrier of 25,000 and a sustainable move above the same will push the Index further higher to 25,200 whereas on the downside 24,800 will be considered as immediate support.

"Bank Nifty is oscillating in the range of 51,250-51,930 and a breakout on either sides is a must to determine the clear trend. The metal sector is providing an early sign of trend reversal while the pharma segment is likely to extend its outperformance. Investors should watch the chemical stocks with a buy-on-dips strategy", he continued.

Shrikant Chouhan – Head – Equity Research at Kotak Securities says that from a technical perspective, the market has shown a narrow range of activity this week.

"It has consistently found support between 24,800-24,750/81,100-81,000 on the downside, with profit booking observed between 24,950-24,980/81,750-81,800. If the market goes above 24,980/81,800, it could rally to 25,050-25,125/82,200-82,500. However, if it falls below 24,750/81,000, the market sentiment may change, potentially leading to a decline to 24,650-24,500/80,800-80,500 levels. The recommended strategy is to reduce long positions between 25050/25150 levels", he said.

Apurva Sheth, Head of Market Perspectives and Research , SAMCO Securities added that US Fed Chief Jerome Powell had kept rates unchanged in the recently concluded meeting. However, he clearly stated that if inflation remains on the anticipated trajectory of 2% then a rate cuts might happen as early as September.

"This unleashed animal spirits and pushed the bond and equity prices higher globally. US 10 year bond yields which are inversely correlated to bond prices slipped sharply lower and are on the verge of falling below 4% mark. This is a big positive for the markets as the cost of capital for corporates and consumers is falling. Riskier assets like emerging markets and metals are likely to do well. Precious metals like gold and silver too should benefit from rate cuts", he explained.