Stock market today: Sensex inches up over 300 points in early trade, Nifty opens in green

Both indices, Sensex and Nifty opened the week in green, with Sensex inching up over 300 points to trade at 81,635.77, while Nifty was up by 0.33% to trade at 24,917.85 points as of 9:30 am on July 29th, 2024.

NTPC, BPCL, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank and Shri Ram Finance gained early advantage and were amidst the top gainers during morning trade, while Tata Consumers, Titan, Power Grid Corporation of India and Bharti Airtel were amidst the leading laggards.

Amidst broad market indices, India VIX opened 5.26% up, while Nifty small cap 100 was up by 1.07%. Small cap 250 was up by 1.11% and micro cap was up by 1.31%. Amidst sectoral indices, Nifty bank was up by 1.01%, while media was up by 1.78%. PSU Banks were up by 2.78%, Private banks were up by 1.03% and Oil and gas was up by 1.23% in early trade. FMCG, Pharma and Healthcare indices opened the day in red.

Mr. Aditya Gaggar, director of Progressive Shares notes that with strong underlying momentum, the index is heading towards the psychological barrier of 25,000 and an early indication from GIFT Nifty suggests the same.
"Bharat Forge, and Tata Motors/DVR. Gas and OMC counters outperformed the energy segment and stocks such as BPCL, HPCL, IOC, and Petronet look strong and are likely to continue their journey toward the north. Bulls tightened their grip on the FMCG and IT segments and we are bullish on the same. The metal sector reversed from its trendline support coupled with a hidden bullish divergence in the RSI suggests a resumption of its uptrend. In case of Pharma space, one should adopt buy on dips strategy as a strong rally has already been seen", he continued.

Shrikant Chouhan, Head – Equity Research, Kotak Securities is of the view that, the short term market texture is bullish but due to temporary overbought conditions we could see range bound activity in the near future.

"For the trend following traders now, 24,675-24,600 / 80,900-80,600 would act as a key support zones. As long as the market is trading above the same, the bullish texture is likely to continue. On the higher side, 25,000/81,600 could be the immediate hurdle for the bulls. Further upside may also continue which could lift the market up to 25,150/82,200. On the flip side, below 24,600/80,600 the sentiment could change. Below the same traders may prefer to exit out from the trading long positions. For day traders, buying on dips and sell on intraday rallies would be the ideal strategy", noted Chouhan.