Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended Tuesday’s trading session near day’s high point, aided by strong buying in Auto and Pharma sectors stocks. Index made a positive start and continued northward journey, amid foreign fund inflows. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the cash segment for the fourth day in a row yesterday. They net purchased stocks worth Rs 61 crore on July 08. Some support came as the Reserve Bank of India’s KLEMS database showed that the total number of employed people as a ratio of the total population has increased to 44.2 per cent in FY24 from 34.7 per cent in FY18, with the workforce growing by 168 million during the period at 643.3 million. Total employment was 596.7 million in FY23, thereby adding 46.6 million in FY24.
Index extended its gains in noon deals, as sentiments remained positive with the reports stating that India's informal sector grew post-pandemic, with Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, and Chhattisgarh logging big output gains in fiscal 2022-23. According to the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the number of informal firms in India increased 9 percent to 65 million in 2022-23 from 59.7 million in 2022-21. Besides, another report stated that area sown under major crops was 14 percent higher as of July 5 compared with the previous year, as rainfall situation improved across the country. According to data released by the Indian Meteorological Department, sowing is likely to improve further as the country faced a rainfall surplus of 1.8 percent as of July 8. In final hour of trade, index added more gains to reach at new high point.
Most of the sectorial indices ended in green except IT stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Maruti Suzuki India, Bosch and Apollo Tyres. On the other hand, the top losers Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals, RBL Bank and Multi Commodity Exchange of India. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 24900 - 25100 calls and 23400 - 23600 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
