FIRST TRADE: Sensex up 300 pts, Nifty tops 18,600; all sectors in the green

The domestic equities got off to a solid start on Monday, June 5 amid across-the-board buying. At 09:20 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading 316 points, or 0.5 per cent higher at 62,862.75 while the NSE's Nifty was ruling at 18,612.60, up 79 points, or 0.42 per cent. 

ICICI Securities, in its Market Outlook report, says, "Going ahead, we reiterate our constructive stance and expect Nifty to gradually retest the lifetime highs of 18,887 in the next few weeks. In the process, we expect the broader market to relatively outperform the benchmark and expect the midcap index to rally nearly 25 per cent in the next three to four quarters based on the following observations:

• the broader market has been relatively outperforming the benchmark as the midcap index recorded a breakout from 18 months of consolidation while the small-cap index has come out of one-year consolidation, highlighting a structural turnaround.
• A 5-year consolidation breakout on the Nifty Midcap 100 ratio line against the Nifty 500 signifies acceleration in the upward momentum of midcaps. A similar breakout in CY14 was followed by a 25% rally in the Nifty Midcap 100 over the next 12 months."

BUZZING STOCKS

Tata Motors hit a fresh 52-week peak of Rs 542.45 in the morning trade on BSE. The Tata Group signed an outline deal with the Gujarat government on Friday on building a lithium-ion cell factory with an investment of about Rs 13,000 crore ($1.6 billion). Indoco Remedies slipped 4 per cent in the trade after the company informed the exchanges that the USFDA had inspected its sterile facility (Plant II), located at Goa ("Facility"), from February 20, 2023, to February 28, 2023. The said facility had four observations in Form 483. The USFDA has determined the inspection classification of this facility as OAI (Official Action Indicated).

BROADER MARKET

The S&P BSE MidCap index traded 0.32 per cent higher at 27,380.98 levels while the S&P BSE SmallCap index surged 0.70 per cent to 31,100.44 points.