Indian stock markets close FY23 on a high note

The two Indian stock markets went up on Friday, the last day of FY23, with scrips in most of the sectors ending in green, said experts.

Globally too the markets rallied up with foreign institutional investors (FII) being the net buyers. However, volatility in the market will continue owing to the banking crisis in the US and Europe, they added.

"Indian markets witnessed a smart rally today, led by the large caps and supported by small and mid-caps. Indian markets played a catch-up rally with global markets, which had witnessed two consecutive days of the strong move, while Indian markets were closed yesterday (Thursday) due to a holiday," said Naveen Kulkarni, Chief Investment Officer, Axis Securities.

"Though we have seen a decent rally in the markets this week, we believe that markets may remain volatile in the near term, as the banking crisis in US and Europe has not yet stabilised completely. This is against the backdrop where bond yields in the US have also risen in the past week, which could further escalate banking issues there," he added.

According to Dr. Joseph Thomas, Head of Research, Emkay Wealth Management, the improving sentiments in the developed markets, especially the US, was reflected on the domestic equity markets.

"The rising expectations of a contained banking crisis without any contagion, coupled with higher jobless claims led to markets betting on Fed (US Federal Reserve) going slow on the rate hikes front. The markets seem to be discounting some of the positives, the market movement going ahead may be more data dependent and look at validation of the expectations," he said.

Domestic indices ended the last day of the month on optimistic note led by rally in global markets and FIIs turning net buyers, said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

"Nifty opened gap up and continuously strengthened throughout the session to close with handsome gains of 279 points (1.6 per cent) at 17,360 level. All sectors ended in green with Oil & Gas, IT and Realty being major gainers. Niche sectors like Sugar and Defence too were in limelight and we expect this momentum to continue," he added.

In the near term, focus will now remain on the RBI's policy meeting next week, where 25-bps rate hike is expected in line with the hikes done by major global central banks. Apart from this, markets will also react to monthly auto sales number data that will be released over the weekend, Khemka said.

The Sensex of the BSE opened at 58,273.86 points after closing at 57,960.09 on Thursday. It touched a high of 59,068.47, reached a low of 58,273.86 before closing at 58,991.52 points, gaining 1,031 points.