Nifty ends Monday in the green after hitting all-time high
- India’s Nifty extended its upptrend into fifth straight day on Monday.
- Nifty pulled back after hitting the all-time high near 22,190.
- Nifty traders brace for a relatively light India’s economic docket and Fed Minutes from the US.
The Nifty 50, India’s key benchmark index, settled Monday in the green, having pulled back from a new all-time high of 22,186.65. The Indian index extended the previous week’s upward trajectory, led by an upsurge in the energy and financial sector stocks. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty 50 closed 0.37% higher on the day at 22,122.
Chinese markets reopened after a week-long Lunar New Year holiday while the US stock markets are closed on Monday, in observance of Presidents’ Day.
Stock market news
- Grasim, Bajaj Auto, Bajaj FinServ, Cipla and Bharti Airtel were the top gainers on the Nifty on Monday while losers included Coal India, SBI Life Insurance, L&T, HDFC Life Insurance and Wipro.
- Among the corporate news, Bajaj Auto announced February 29 as the record date for a proposed buyback plan amounting to Rs 4,000 crore, at Rs 10,000 per share.
- Shares of Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL), a railway infrastructure company, soared nearly 12% to ₹281.30 apiece in early trade on Monday after the company said its order book touched ₹65,000 crore, with 50% of this coming from the railway projects.
- Shares of Paisalo Digital rallied 15% to hit a record high of Rs 164 on Monday, surging 63% in past one month on promoter buying and strong December quarter (Q3FY24) earnings.
- Novartis India share price surges nearly 11% to hit a 52-week high as Novartis AG announces sale plans for the company.
- Indian stock exchanges rank first in the world in terms of the number of IPOs in 2023
- India’s trade data for January showed Thursday a shrinking Trade Deficit of $17.49 billion.
- US Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) data came in hotter-than-expected and helped push back the market’s expectations of a Fed rate cut from March to June. Markets are currently pricing a 77% chance of a cut in June, the CME Group’s Fed Watch Tool shows.
- Attention now turns toward the Minutes of the Fed February meeting and Ameircan tech major Nvidia Earnings report due on Wednesday, as Indian economic calendar remains devoid of any top-tier data release.
Nifty 50 FAQs
The Nifty 50, or simply Nifty, is the most commonly followed stock index in India. It was launched in 1996 by the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE). It plots the weighted average share price of 50 of the largest Indian corporations, offering investors comprehensive exposure to 13 sectors of the economy. Each corporation’s weighting is based on its “free-float capitalization”, or the value of all its shares readily available for trading.
The Nifty is a composite so its value is dependent on the performance of the companies that make up the index, as revealed in their quarterly and annual results. Another factor is government policies, such as when in 2016 the government decided to demonetize 500 and 1000 Rupee banknotes. This led to a temporary cash shortage which negatively impacted the Nifty. The level of interest rates set by the Reserve Bank of India is a further factor as it determines the cost of borrowing. Climate change, pandemics and natural disasters are also drivers.
The Nifty 50 was launched on April 22, 1996 at a base level of 1,000. Its highest recorded level to date is 22,097 achieved on January 15, 2024 (this is being written in Feb 2024). The index first closed above the 10,000 level on October 17, 2017. The Nifty recorded its biggest daily decline on March 23, 2020 during the Covid pandemic, when it fell 1,125 points or 12.37%. The Nifty’s biggest gain in a single day occurred on May 18, 2009, when it rose 651 points after the results of the Indian elections.
Major corporations in the Nifty 50 include HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Larsen and Toubro, ITC Ltd, Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd and Kotak Mahendra Bank.