FIRST TRADE: Nifty scales new height, surpasses 24,650 for the first time; Sensex up over 100 pts

Stock market today: Domestic equity indices on Tuesday (July 16) began the session higher after hitting record highs in the last session as investors parse through quarterly earnings and wait for the national budget proposal due early next week. Nifty scaled a new peak and surpassed 24,650 for the first time. 

Last seen, both indices were up 0.15 per cent, Sensex was up 134.11 points at 80,798.97 and Nifty was up 39.7 points at 24,626.4. 

"In the next few days in the run-up to the budget, the market is likely to anticipate the budget proposals and respond. Even though budget anticipations are speculative, they will be growth-oriented and at the same time fiscally prudent. Growth is a top priority which the Government cannot and will not compromise. Tax buoyancy and the RBI dividend bonanza give the finance minister ample room for fiscal consolidation. Therefore, the market will be optimistic on this ground," said Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Dr. V K Vijayakumar added the unknown factor is regarding any possible tweaking of the LTCG tax. If the tax rate is raised or tenure for LTCG is extended the market will respond negatively to that. A possible budget proposal that can impact certain segments of the market would be disinvestment. 

Further, he said, since PSU stocks are trading at high valuations, the government is likely to go for disinvestment in segments where government ownership is very high. This can increase the supply of stocks in these segments and bring their prices down. Watch out for disinvestment proposals in Railways and defence-related segments

In the broader market, Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 traded in the positive territory. High-beta Nifty Bank was up 0.13 per cent at 52,574.15.

BUZZING STOCKS

Vodafone Idea shares were up nearly 2 per cent after the Supreme Court said it is ready to consider listing Voda-Idea's petition to correct calculation errors in AGR dues.

ACC shares were up over 1 per cent after Adani Group may acquire the cement assets of Jaypee Group.

Century Textiles shares were up nearly 6 per cent after its subsidiary Birla Estate purchased five acres of land in Gurugram.

Spicejet shares were up over 3 per cent after the company reported Q1 numbers.

Conversely, Jio Financial Services shares were down over 2 per cent after the company reported weak Q1 results. 

Catch all the updates of July 16 session on Dalal Street here. For all other news related to business, politics, tech and auto, visit Zeebiz.com.

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