Market at day`s high; financial services in demand

The domestic equity benchmarks marched higher and hit the day`s high in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty scaled above the 24,750 mark after hitting the day�s low of 24,504.45 in mid-morning trade. Financial services shares advanced after declining in the past trading session. Trading was volatile due to weekly F&O series expiry today.

At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 608.55 points or 0.76% to 81,333.45. The Nifty 50 index added 168.80 points or 0.69% to 24,781.80.

The Sensex and Nifty clocked an all-time high of 81,485.90 and 24,829.35, respectively in mid-afternoon trade.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 1.18% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 1.03%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,368 shares rose and 2,501 shares fell. A total of 104 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) upgraded India`s economic outlook, raising its growth forecast for the 2024-25 financial year to 7%. This revision is driven by an anticipated improvement in private consumption, especially in rural areas.

The IMF maintained its projection of 6.5% growth for the following year (2025-26). This information comes from their latest World Economic Outlook report.

In April, the IMF had already revised India`s growth forecast upwards, from 6.5% to 6.8%. This latest increase reflects continued optimism about the Indian economy.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Financial Services index rose 0.74% to 23,824.50. The index shed 0.18% in the past trading session.

Bajaj Finserv (up 2.16%), Shriram Finance (up 1.97%), SBI Life Insurance Company (up 1.79%), Cholamandalam Investment & Finance Company (up 1.79%), ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company (up 1.5%), State Bank of India (up 1.46%), Muthoot Finance (up 1.3%), HDFC Asset Management Company (up 1.16%), ICICI Bank (up 1.07%) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 0.94%) advanced.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India`s 10-year benchmark federal paper was down 0.01% to 6.965 as compared with previous close 6.966.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 83.6525, compared with its close of 83.5850 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 August 2024 settlement gained 0.45% to Rs 74,470.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback`s value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.04% to 103.82.

The United States 10-year bond yield grew 1.02% to 4.185.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for September 2024 settlement added 09 cents or 0.11% to $85.16 a barrel.

Stocks in Spotlight:

GMR Airports Infrastructure declined 1.33%. The passenger traffic across all GMR Airports increased 8% year over year (YoY) in June 2024, to over 10.6 million passengers.

KEC International rallied 2.19% after the civil construction company bagged new orders worth Rs 1,100 crore in transmission & distribution (T&D) projects in India,

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