Mumbai. On Friday, amid encouraging export figures, buying in companies like HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and Mahindra & Mahindra continued the rally for the third consecutive session. As a result, the benchmark indices of the domestic markets Sensex and Nifty closed at new all-time highs.
The BSE’s 30-share index Sensex rose 181.87 points or 0.24 percent to close at a new high of 76,992.77 points. During trading, at one time it rose 270.4 points or 0.35 percent to reach 77,081.30 points. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) index Nifty closed at a record level of 23,465.60 points with a gain of 66.70 points or 0.29 percent. During trading, at one time it rose 91.5 points to reach a new all-time high of 23,490.40 points.
On a weekly basis, the BSE rose 299.41 points or 0.39 per cent, while the Nifty gained 175.45 points or 0.75 per cent.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said, “The market momentum has temporarily declined due to the lack of new steps after the aggressive remarks by the US Federal Reserve. This has reduced the possibility of interest rate cuts in the short term. Strength is expected in the near term as domestic investors await signals from the upcoming Union Budget.” Among the companies included in the Sensex group, the shares of Mahindra & Mahindra, Titan, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, Tata Motors and Asian Paints registered the highest rise.
On the other hand, shares of Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Larsen & Toubro and State Bank of India witnessed a downward trend. The domestic stock market was also influenced by the favorable export data released on Friday. According to government data, merchandise exports rose nine percent to $ 38.13 billion in May. During this period, the country’s imports rose 7.7 percent to US $ 61.91 billion. In the broader market, the BSE midcap index rose 1.18 percent and the smallcap index rose 1.03 percent.
Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said, “Asian stocks were mixed on Friday. Japanese stocks rose after the Bank of Japan indicated that there would be no change in its bond purchase program in the near future. On the other hand, Chinese markets performed the worst.” In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei and China’s Shanghai Composite were in profit while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was in loss.
The US markets closed with a mixed trend on Thursday. European markets declined till afternoon trading.
Meanwhile, wholesale inflation rose to a 15-month high of 2.61 per cent in May as prices of food items and expensive manufactured goods rose amid the outbreak of severe heat. Inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) has been rising for three consecutive months. It was 1.26 per cent in April and 3.61 per cent below zero in May 2023.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude fell 0.12 percent to $82.65 per barrel. According to stock market data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were sellers in the capital market on Thursday and sold shares worth Rs 3,033 crore net. Stock markets will remain closed on Monday on the occasion of Bakrid.