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The Economic Times - Delhi |
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2 March 2024 |
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Mumbai: India's stock market soared to record levels on
Friday after a stronger-than-anticipated economic growth reading in the third
quarter lifted investor sentiment. Steel, ce ment, and construction stocks
led the upside, while information technology underperformed the market. NSE's Nifty rose 355 points, or 1.62%, to close at
22,338. BSE's Sensex rose 1,245 points, or 1.72%, to end at 73,745. The Nifty
recorded a all-time high of 22,353, while the Sensex hit a record high of
73,819 during the day. "India's robust GDP data helped improve investors'
mood and we see a renewed buying interest, especially in cement and metals sectors
as GDP growth has been capital intensive," said Siddhartha Khemka,
head-retail research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services. The government on Friday said thecountry's gross domestic
product (GDP) growth for October-December was at 8.4%, compared to 8.1% in
theprevious quarter Money managers said beneath the surface, the GDP growth numbers need
improvement. "We saw the market gain on the back of India's Q3
GDP figures, which look good at first glance, but a deeper dive indicates the
numbers rose due to higher indirect tax collection and a reduction in
government subsidies," said Andrew Holland, CEO, Avendus Capital Public
Markets Alternate Strategies. "India's consumer growth remains muted at
3.5% and needs to pick-up." Holland suggests that RBI's action in response to the
consumption growth may decide the direction of movement of the Bank Nifty,
which has been an under-performer in the last couple of months. A gain in the
index would also lead to a gain in Bank Nifty eventually Domestic institutional investors net bought shares worth
Rs3,815 crore, ac- cording to provisional data. Foreign portfolio investors
also bought to the tune of Rs129 crore. Khemka says that the volatility due to profit booking is
going away and they see value buying in PSUs, auto, defence, metals, and
cement. "We see the Nifty gradually moving towards 23,500
levels in March," he said. Nifty's Volatility
Index, or VIX-a fear gauge-fell 2.17% to 15.24 on Friday, suggesting traders
see lesser risks to the market in the nearterm Nifty Midcap 150 gained 0.81%
and Nifty Small-cap 250 rose 0.64% during the day. Out of the 3,947 stocks
traded on the BSE, 2,366 rose, while1,489 declined. |
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