The Indian benchmark indices closed after registering marginal gains as the Sensex gained over 12 points to close trade at 84,478.67, while the Nifty gained nearly 4 points to end at 25,879.15.
In the 30-share BSE Sensex, the top gainers included stocks like Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, PowerGrid, L&T and Bajaj Finserv. Meanwhile, the laggards included Reliance, Kotak Bank, Titan, HDFC Bank and the State Bank of India.
Previously, during early morning trade, the Sensex started trading at 84,515.33 or 48 points higher and the Nifty opened above 25,847 or 28 points lower.
What Do Experts Say?
Equity markets began Thursday’s session on a cautious note, with the Sensex opening higher while the Nifty slipped in early trade. Overall sentiment remained muted as investors awaited new catalysts to push the benchmarks to fresh record levels.
V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said, “The market needs more triggers to take it to new record highs. With the outcome of the Bihar polls largely discounted by the market, there are no political triggers that can push the market significantly higher. The reverse might happen if the actual poll results turn out to be different from the exit polls.”
Vijayakumar pointed out that upcoming economic developments could play a decisive role in shaping near-term market movement. “The important economic factors that have to be watched for is a possible India-US trade deal removing the penal tariffs and reducing the reciprocal tariffs,” he noted.
He further observed that the fall in October retail inflation to 0.25 per cent suggests a possible rate cut by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in December. However, he cautioned that “the monetary policy transmission turning weak has become a challenge for the RBI.”
Vijayakumar added that markets are likely to consolidate in the near term and respond to developments as they unfold. “Positive triggers happening simultaneously can lead to short-covering pushing the market sharply up. But sustained uptrend would be challenging given the FII selling and elevated valuations,” he said.
