Stock market today: Nifty 50, Sensex hit fresh record highs; mid, smallcaps bleed

Stock market today: A dichotomy of trends was observed in the Indian stock market on Thursday, July 18, with large-caps indices the Nifty 50 and the Sensex closing at record highs, while mid and small-cap indices suffering losses of one per cent each.

After a lacklustre trade in the first half of the session, market benchmarks saw healthy gains in the second half due to support led by select IT heavyweights in anticipation of healthy June-quarter earnings.

On the flip side, the mid and small-cap segments of the market suffered losses due to concerns over premium valuation. Experts observe money moving from the smaller companies to the larger ones ahead of the Union Budget 2024 as they are relatively stable in times of market volatility.

Rising for the fourth consecutive session, the Nifty 50 hit a record high of 24,837.75, while the Sensex scaled a fresh peak of 81,522.55 during the session.

Shares of Infosys, TCS, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, and Mahindra and Mahindra ended as the top contributors to the gains in the Nifty 50 index.

Conversely, those of HDFC Bank, Asian Paints, Coal India, Grasim and NTPC ended as the top drags on the index.

The Nifty 50 settled at its fresh closing high of 24,800.85, up 188 points, or 0.76 per cent. The Sensex, too, ended its fresh closing high of 81,343.46 with a gain of 627 points, or 0.78 per cent.

On the other hand, the BSE Midcap index fell 0.99 per cent, while the BSE Smallcap index ended with a loss of 1.15 per cent.

Even though the benchmark Sensex ended with solid gains, the losses in the mid and smallcap segments dragged the cumulative market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms to nearly ₹454.2 lakh crore from nearly ₹455.2 lakh crore in the previous session, making investors poorer by about ₹1 lakh crore in a single session.

Nifty 50 top gainers today

35 stocks closed with gains in the Nifty 50 index, out of which LTIMindtree (up 3.48 per cent), ONGC (up 2.99 per cent) and TCS (up 2.84 per cent) emerged as the top gainers.

Nifty 50 top losers today

Shares of Hero MotoCorp (down 1.49 per cent), Coal India (down 1.48 per cent) and Asian Paints (down 1.40 per cent) closed as the top losers in the index.

Sectoral indices today

The Nifty IT index rose 2.22 per cent, ending as the top gainer among the sectoral indices. The index hit its fresh 52-week high of 40,075.70 during the session.

Nifty Bank (up 0.43 per cent) and Private Bank (up 0.40 per cent) ended with decent gains, while the and PSU Bank index (up 0.02 per cent) ended flat.

On the other hand, Nifty Media plunged 3.57 per cent. Consumer Durables (down 0.96 per cent) and Metal (down 0.87 per cent) also ended with significant losses.

Expert views on markets

"The frontline indices firmed up in the second half, reaching fresh highs driven by renewed buying in IT stocks. Investor optimism for the sector grew after strong performance reports from the country's leading IT firms in the June quarter, coupled with a weakening rupee. However, the broader market lagged the major indices due to high valuations and sectoral rotation, which is influenced by anticipated improvements in private consumption, particularly in rural areas," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

"Markets have been inching higher as expected, driven by rotational buying in heavyweight stocks. We are now eyeing the new milestone of 25,000 in the Nifty. However, the recent underperformance of the broader indices is tempering the overall buoyancy. Amid these mixed signals, we reiterate our recommendation to focus on stock selection and prefer hedged positions, given the anticipated rise in volatility due to the upcoming Union Budget and ongoing earnings season," said Ajit Mishra, SVP- Research, Religare Broking.

Technical views on Nifty 50

Shrikant Chouhan, the head of equity research at Kotak Securities, observed that on daily charts, Nifty formed a bullish candle, while on intraday charts, it held a breakout continuation formation, which is largely positive.

"For trend-following traders now, 24,700/81,000 would act as a sacrosanct support zone. Above this level, the market could continue the positive momentum until 24,900-24,950/81,600-81,800. On the flip side, below 24,700/81,000, traders may prefer to exit from long positions, and the index could retest the level of 24,500-24,475/80,400-80,300," said Chouhan.

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