Stock market today: BSE Sensex closes over 1,200 points, crosses 81,300; Nifty50 hits 24,800 as bulls party on Dalal Street

Stock market today: The Indian equity benchmark indices experienced a surge on Friday, with the BSE Sensex and Nifty50 indices reaching new heights. BSE Sensex surged over 1,292.92 points or 1.62 per cent and closed at 81,332.72, while, Nifty50 surged over 428 points or 1.76 per cent and touched its lifetime high of 24,861.15 during the day, and closed at 24,834.85.
BSE Sensex and Nifty50, rallied strongly in the intra-day trade session.BSE Sensex was trading at 81,217.03, up 1,177 points or 1.47% and Nifty50 was at 24,795.75, up 390 points or 1.60% at 1:43 pm.
The Indian stock market experienced a significant surge as investors looked past the capital gains tax increase announced in the Budget. The rally was primarily driven by buying in the IT and metal sectors. During the day, the combined market capitalization of companies listed on the BSE rose by Rs 6.92 lakh crore, reaching Rs 456.74 crore, according to an ET report.
The IT sector witnessed a substantial increase, with stocks rising by up to 7%. Mphasis, LTIMindtree, and Infosys led the surge following the release of data on Thursday that showed better-than-expected growth in the US economy during the second quarter. "IT companies earn a major share of their revenue from the US and data showing improvement in the US economic growth augurs well for the sector."
The Nifty Metal index emerged as the top sectoral gainer, rising by 3%. Adani Enterprises, Vedanta, and Tata Steel were the leading contributors to the index's performance.
Among the Sensex stocks, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, and TCS collectively added nearly 500 points to the index's rally. Other significant contributors included Kotak Bank, L&T, ITC, SBI, HCL Tech, and Tata Steel.
Market experts shared their views on the ongoing bull market in India. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, noted, "The unique feature of the ongoing bull market in India is its ability to climb all walls of worry. The market dismissed all concerns relating to elections, the Budget and the correction in the mother market US. The buy on dips strategy which has played out well in this rally continues to hold good."
Vijayakumar also highlighted the valuation discrepancy between large-cap stocks, which are fairly valued, and mid and small-cap stocks, which are highly valued. He suggested that long-term investors should take advantage of this discrepancy by purchasing quality large-cap stocks during declines.
Deven Mehata, Research Analyst at Choice Broking, provided technical insights, stating, "Nifty can find support at 24,300 followed by 24,350 and 24,200. On the higher side, 24,500 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 24,550 and 24,600."
In the global markets, Asian markets were trading lower, while most Wall Street equities experienced losses in a choppy overnight session. Investors are awaiting the release of the US personal consumption expenditures (PCE) data, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, to confirm expectations of an early start to rate cuts.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued to be net sellers for the third consecutive session on Thursday, with outflows since the union budget amounting to approximately $1.3 billion.
Oil prices saw a slight increase on Friday, supported by stronger-than-expected US economic data that raised expectations for increasing crude oil demand from the world's largest energy consumer. However, concerns about soft economic conditions in China and Japan, Asia's biggest economies, limited the gains. Brent crude futures for September rose 16 cents to $82.53 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude for September increased 16 cents to $78.44 per barrel.