Sensex, Nifty close at all-time high before release of GDP numbers

The Indian equity market closed at an all-time high before the release of the GDP numbers at 5:30 P.M. on Friday.

At closing, the Sensex was at 82,365, up 231 points or 0.28 per cent and Nifty was at 25,235, up 83 points or 0.33 per cent.

During the trading session, the Sensex and Nifty touched a new all-time high of 82,637 and 25,268 points respectively.

On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 2,239 shares were in the green, 1687 shares were in the red and 119 shares closed without any change.

Among the sectoral indices, Auto, IT, PSU Bank, fin Service, pharma, realty and metal were major gainers while FMCG and media were major laggards.

In the Sensex pack, Bajaj Finance, M&M, NTPC, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel, Power Grid, Sun Pharma and TCS were the top gainers.

Tata Motors, Reliance, ITC, Tech Mahindra, HDFC Bank, Nestle and Maruti Suzuki were the top losers.

According to experts, "Global markets are currently resonating with the US Fed’s pledges of a rate cut in September. The US and Indian markets have regained recent highs, reflecting the continuation of this optimism. However, the dollar is strengthening given healthy US GDP growth, strong retail sales and expectation that the upcoming US job claims will be steady, leading to shallow rate cuts in the future."

"Though the domestic market is currently showing a positive bias, the Indian Q1 GDP growth is expected to be moderate, while premium valuation and a lack of fresh triggers could see further momentum buildup in value stocks," they added.

The Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 3259 crore on August 29, while domestic institutional investors extended their buying as they bought equities worth Rs 2690 crore on the same day.

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst of LKP Securities said, "The Nifty traded sideways after a strong start. However, market strength is likely to persist as long as the index stays above 25,000.

“A drop below this level could trigger a significant correction. On the upside, the current optimism could drive the index towards 25,500 in the near term."