Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended Monday’s trading session at fresh record closing high point, ahead of Index of industrial production (IIP) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) data. After making decent start, soon index started northward journey, as foreign fund inflows aided domestic sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 1,659.27 crore on April 5, provisional data from the NSE showed. Traders took encouragement as a recent bi-monthly survey conducted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from March 2 to March 11, 2024 showed that consumer confidence in India has soared to its highest level since mid-2019. The survey, which included 6,083 respondents, with females comprising 50.8 percent of the sample, revealed a significant uptick in consumer sentiment.
In afternoon session, index came off day’s high point, but remained higher till the end, as sentiments got boost after the US data showed much stronger than expected job growth in March that pointed to a robust economy. Besides, some support came as India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has put out a report maintaining a neutral outlook on the finances of Indian states for the fiscal year 2024-2025 (FY25), showing States' aggregate revenue deficit is projected to be 0.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) for FY25, down from 0.5 per cent in FY24. Finally, index ended at life-time record closing high and settled above 22650 mark.
Most of the sectorial indices ended in green except PSU Bank, Media and IT stock. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Exide Industries, Info Edge (India) and Voltas. On the other hand, the top losers Bandhan Bank, REC and Persistent Systems. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 22900 - 23100 calls and 21900 - 22100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
