The benchmark indices had their strongest week of 2024, surging over 2% on Friday as government formation drew nearer. Sensex opened lower at 75,031.79 and climbed in the afternoon session to touch its all-time high of 76,795.31. Further at close, it was at 76,693.36, up 1,618.85 points, or 2.16%. The Nifty opened flat at 22,821.85 and climbed to an intraday high of 23,320.20. At close, the index was at 23,290.15, up 468.75 points, or 2.05%. Despite a steep loss of 6 percent on June 4, market benchmarks are up with decent gains in June so far.
Among the sectors, Nifty IT surged by 3.5%, with Infosys, Tech Mahindra, and TCS leading the gains.
Nifty Auto, Nifty Energy, Nifty Infra, Nifty Metal, and Nifty Realty closed over 2%. The BSE Midcap index rose 1.28%, while the Smallcap index ended with a gain of 2.18%. The overall market capitalization of the firms listed on the BSE rose to nearly Rs 423.4 lakh crore from nearly Rs 415.9 lakh crore in the previous session.
Shares of Wipro spiked over 5% in early trade after the company bagged a $500 million deal with a leading US communication service. provider, spread over a period of five years. Further, Paytm zoomed over 9% in morning deals, and the sharp rise comes after the circuit filter for the stock was revised upwards to 10% from 5% earlier.
Further, the brokerage house Axis Securities picked ICICI Bank, the State Bank of India, and the Bank of Baroda and Federal Bank as its top banking picks post Q4 FY24 results.
On the global landscape, European shares opened just off record highs. Traders waited for US job data because that would cement bets on Federal Reserve policy easing in the coming months.
Europe’s Stoxx 600 index inched 0.1% lower, having hit record peaks this week.
While technology stocks gained, real estate and insurance stocks slipped, given the ECB’s signal that it would not rush to cut rates rapidly.