indias nifty 50 set begin 2024 with flat start

 

India's Nifty 50, Sensex off to a muted start in 2024 as financials, IT weigh

On the first trading session of 2024, India's benchmark indices, Nifty 50 and Sensex, exhibited a subdued performance, influenced by the weightage of the information technology and financial sectors. This comes after a robust 20% surge in 2023.

As of 9:51 a.m. IST, the NSE Nifty 50 (.NSEI) experienced a marginal decline of 0.08% to reach 21,714.15 points, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) dropped by 0.15% to 72,132.72.

Among the major sectors, five out of thirteen recorded losses, with financials (.NIFTYFIN) and IT (.NIFTYIT) both seeing a decrease of 0.25%. In contrast, the more domestically-focused small-cap (.NIFSMCP100) and mid-cap (.NIFMDCP100) sectors each gained approximately 0.3%, outperforming the benchmarks, despite concerns about elevated valuations.

Analysts at Kotak Institutional Equities maintained a positive outlook on large-caps, citing relatively reasonable valuations. However, they noted that, except for banks, most other sectors and stocks are currently overvalued.


The oil and gas index (.NIFOILGAS) advanced by 0.8%, benefiting from declining crude prices driven by demand uncertainties. Lower oil prices are seen as favorable for importers like India. Airline operators such as Interglobe Aviation (INGL.NS) and SpiceJet observed gains ranging from 1.5% to 3%, supported by a reduction in aviation turbine fuel costs.


Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL.NS) surged by 4.4% following a contract win worth 190 billion rupees from NLC India. HFCL (HFCL.NS) climbed 3% after securing a $135 million order.


Grasim Industries (GRAS.NS) rose by 1.5%, ranking among the top gainers in the Nifty 50, after commissioning additional capacity for advanced materials manufacturing. On the flip side, Eicher Motors (EICH.NS) experienced a 1.6% decline, emerging as the top percentage loser in the Nifty 50. The automaker faced a goods and services tax (GST) demand order amounting to approximately 1.30 billion rupees.

Mahindra and Mahindra (MAHM.NS) registered a 1% loss after the government imposed a tax penalty of 41.2 million rupees on the firm. The company expressed its intention to challenge the order.

Looking ahead, analysts at Centrum Institutional Research emphasized the immediate focus on third-quarter earnings, suggesting that any deviations in earnings could trigger profit-taking.