Stock market today: Nifty 50, Sensex close flat; focus shifts to US Fed meet outcome

Stock market today: The Indian stock market's frontline indices, the Sensex and the Nifty 50, closed flat on Tuesday, July 30, amid mixed global cues. Meanwhile, the midcap and smallcap segments continued to outperform the benchmarks despite concerns over their high valuations.

The Nifty 50 opened at 24,839.40 against its previous close of 24,836.10 and touched its intraday high and low of 24,971.75 and 24,798.65, respectively.

The index finally closed 21 points, or 0.09 per cent, up at 24,857.30, with 21 stocks in the green.

On the other hand, the Sensex opened at 81,349.28 against its previous close of 81,355.84 and touched its intraday high and low of 81,815.27 and 81,230.44, respectively. The 30-share index settled 100 points, or 0.12 per cent, higher at 81,455.40 with 16 stocks in the green.

The BSE Midcap index rose 0.27 per cent, while the Smallcap index climbed 0.88 per cent. The overall market capitalisation of the firms listed on the BSE rose to record nearly ₹461 lakh crore.

As many as 351 stocks, including NTPC, Power Grid, Tata Motors, BPCL, Colgate-Palmolive (India), Marico and Lupin, hit their fresh 52-week highs in intraday trade on BSE.

“Market has been trading with cautious optimism as valuations are quite rich, and any slight hiccup on the external front could trigger correction although domestic fundamentals remain buoyant,” said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities.

Global cues were mixed as the US Fed will start its policy meeting later today. The Fed is expected to keep rates unchanged this time, but market participants will focus on hints that support the expectation that rate cuts may start in September.

Meanwhile, crude oil prices plunged to seven-week low levels due to a weak demand outlook. Benchmark Brent crude futures dropped to $79.70 amid growing concerns over softer demand from the world's second-largest economy, China.

"The domestic market ended flat, due to profit-booking at higher levels. However, the expectation of dovish comments from the US Fed and BoE (Bank of England) in the upcoming policy meetings this week supports the optimism. Investors will also closely monitor comments from the BoE and BoJ (Bank of Japan)," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

"The BoE is expected to lower rates due to rising unemployment and easing inflation. At the same time, the BoJ is likely to increase rates in response to surging inflation, potentially causing market volatility," Nair said.

Shares of Tata Motors (up 3.38 per cent), NTPC (up 3.24 per cent) and BPCL (up 3.08 per cent) ended as the top gainers in the Nifty 50 index.

On the flip side, shares of LTIMindtree (down 2.07 per cent), SBI Life (down 1.67 per cent) and Cipla (down 1.61 per cent) closed as the top losers in the index.

Among the sectoral indices, the Nifty FMCG index, with a loss of 1.11 per cent, ended as the top loser, followed by Nifty Healthcare (down 0.78 per cent) and Pharma (down 0.62 per cent).

Nifty Consumer Durables rose 1.12 per cent to end as the top gainer among sectoral indices.

Nifty Bank settled with a mild gain of 0.18 per cent, while Nifty Private Bank index rose 0.33 per cent. The Nifty PSU Bank index slipped 0.08 per cent.

Shrikant Chouhan, the head of equity research at Kotak Securities, pointed out that the market witnessed profit booking near 24,950/81,800, which is largely negative. In addition, on daily charts, it has formed a small inside bar candle formation and on intraday charts, it has formed a double top formation, which supports temporary weakness.

"We are of the view that the larger texture of the market is on the positive side. However, a fresh uptrend rally is possible only after the dismissal of 24,950/81,800. Above this, the market could move up to 25,050-25,100/82,000-82,300. On the flip side, below 24,775/81,135, we could see one quick intraday correction to 24,700-24,625/81,000-80,700," said Chouhan.

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