ANI :
Indian stock indices continued their uptrend from the past week and opened at fresh record highs at the opening bell on Monday, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Union Council of Ministers took oath to office. A smooth transition in the government formation seemed to have boosted market sentiments.
At the time of filing this report, Sensex was at 76,890.34, up 0.3 per cent, and Nifty at 23,372 points, up 0.4 per cent. They hit their record highs at 76,960.96 points and 23,411.90 points, respectively, at opening today. Most of the sectoral indices were in the green.
As the week progresses, analysts believe that investors will keep an eye on the upcoming US Fed interest rate decision, India’s inflation data (both retail and wholesale), and decisions of the new government. Allocation of ministry portfolios to the newly sworn in ministers would also be keenly tracked by markets.
India’s retail inflation eased to 4.83 per cent in April, down from 4.85 per cent in March. However, consumer food price inflation surged to 8.70 per cent from 8.52 per cent last month. The retail inflation in India though is in RBI’s 2-6 per cent comfort level but is above the ideal 4 per cent scenario.
“…global cues, particularly the upcoming US Fed meeting, will be closely watched by participants. The recovery following the post-election decline suggests resilience among participants, and we expect the prevailing tone to continue,” said Ajit Mishra, SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd.
“The renewed participation of sectors like IT and FMCG, which were previously on the sidelines, supports our confidence. However, traders should remain cautious and focus on stocks that are moving in line with the benchmark,” Mishra added.
“Next week’s focus will be on the allocation of key cabinet portfolios such as Finance, Defense, Roads, Energy, Commerce, and Railways. The market will continue to be volatile with upward biasedness,” Siddhartha Khemka, Head – of Retail Research, at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said over the weekend.
Dalal Street was expecting a historical spurt in the benchmark indices after the exit poll but failed to see what was coming the very next day. On June 4, the poll results day, the market witnessed bloodbath when Sensex declined by a whopping 4,389.73 points while Nifty fell by 1,379.40 points.