SENSEX BREACHES 81K; NIFTY TOPS 24,700; EUROPEAN MKT OPENS HIGHER

The domestic equity benchmarks traded with major gains in afternoon trade. The Nifty scaled above the 24,700 level. IT, FMCG and financial services shares advanced while media, realty and consumer durables shares declined. Trading could be volatile due to weekly F&O series expiry today.

At 13:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 475.11 points or 0.59% to 81,195.30. The Nifty 50 index added 123.05 points or 0.50% to 24,736.05.

The Sensex and Nifty clocked an all-time high of 81,166.12 and 24,738.95, respectively in afternoon trade.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 1.06% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.79%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,347 shares rose and 2,487 shares fell. A total of 111 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) upgraded India`s economic outlook, raising its growth forecast for the 2024-25 financial year to 7%. This revision is driven by an anticipated improvement in private consumption, especially in rural areas.

The IMF maintained its projection of 6.5% growth for the following year (2025-26). This information comes from their latest World Economic Outlook report.

In April, the IMF had already revised India`s growth forecast upwards, from 6.5% to 6.8%. This latest increase reflects continued optimism about the Indian economy.

Gainers & Losers:

LTIMindtree (up 2.85%), Tata Consultancy Services (up 2.82%), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (up 2.03%), Wipro (up 1.98%) and Bajaj Finserv (up 1.91%) were major Nifty gainers.

Asian Paints (down 2.17%), Hero MotoCorp (down 2.04%), Bajaj Finance (down 1.98%), Coal India (down 1.74%) and UltraTech Cement (down 1.06%) were major Nifty losers.

LTImindtree jumped 2.85% after the company�s consolidated net profit increased 3.1% to Rs 1,135.1 crore in Q1 FY25 as compared with Rs 1,100.7 crore in Q4 FY24. Revenue from operations rose 2.8% QoQ to Rs 9,142.6 crore in Q1 FY25.

Asian Paints declined 2.17%. The company�s consolidated net profit tumbled 24.54% to Rs 1,169.98 crore in Q1 FY25 as against Rs 1,550.37 crore reported in Q1 FY24. Revenue from operations stood at Rs 8,943.24 crore in Q1 FY25, down 2.3% from Rs 9,153.79 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter previous year.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Just Dial zoomed 17.90% after the company reported 69.33% surge in net profit to Rs 141.22 crore in Q1 FY25 as compared with Rs 83.40 crore posted in Q1 FY24. Revenue from operations grew by 13.6% year on year to Rs 280.57 crore in the quarter ended 30 June 2024.

Tata Power Company declined 1.37%. The company�s wholly owned subsidiary, Tata Power Renewable Energy (TPREL) has signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with NHPC Renewable Energy (NHPC-REL) for installation of rooftop solar projects (RTS Projects) across government buildings.

Jubilant Ingrevia tumbled 3.97% after the company reported 15.36% decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 48.74 crore in Q1 FY25 compared with net profit of Rs 57.59 crore in Q1 FY24. Total revenue from operations stood at Rs 1,024.34 crore in Q1 FY25, down 4.71% from Rs 1,075.02 crore in Q1 FY24.

Global Markets:

European markets open higher ahead of ECB rate decision.

Asian stocks declined on Thursday. Chip stocks dipped as investors worried about potential trade war escalation between the US and China. Meanwhile, the Japanese yen strengthened to a six-week high, likely due to recent interventions by the Japanese government.

News of stricter US export controls on advanced chip technology to China caused chip stocks and the Nasdaq to fall in the US overnight. This decline was led by tech giants Nvidia and Apple.

Later today, investors will focus on the European Central Bank`s policy decision. The bank is likely to maintain current interest rates, but their comments will be closely watched for hints about future rate adjustments.

US markets ended Wednesday with mixed results. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq took a significant hit due to a sell-off in tech stocks driven by trade war concerns. The S&P 500 dropped 1.4%, and the Nasdaq plunged 2.8%. However, the Dow Jones bucked the trend, rising 0.6% (243 points) after a surge of over 700 points on the previous day.

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