Mid-day market trade: Nifty, Sensex continue uptrend after one-day pause; smallcaps lead

Indian equities after a day’s breather continued to gain momentum led by aggressive buying in the IT pack. In the mid-market trade, the bluechip Nifty index traded higher by 0.51 per cent or 123.65 points at 24,134.25, while the BSE Sensex was up 0.54 per cent or 428.57 points at 79,461.3.

Meanwhile, broader markets logged their fresh highs, with both Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices clocking their new peak, with gains of up to 0.9 and 1.43 per cent each.

Nifty Bank, the gauge of the banking sector’s performance, also lent support and was last up by 0.5 per cent at 52,581.

Within the Nifty 50 pack, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, LTIMindtree and TCS emerged as top gainers, while laggards from the basket included stocks like NTPC, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, L&T, Apollo Hospitals and Tata Consumer Products.

Sectorally, PSU Bank and pharma stocks traded with cuts, with PSU Banking leading the losses, while all other sectors registered buying action.

Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities stated that the first trading day of July will be crucial as Nifty’s rally stalled on Friday, leaving investors anxious. The good news is that the headline US PCE and core PCE were up 2.6% annually, aligning with expectations. 

However, profit booking could occur if Nifty starts strong, given the soft US inflation reading after a robust first half of the year for equities, he added.

IREDA shares in early trade gained as much as 6 per cent intraday and were last up by over 2 per cent at Rs 195 after the company’s quarterly business update.

Meanwhile, European stocks traded strong, with the French CAC index last up by as much as 1.9 per cent as regional investors factored in the outcome of the first round of France’s snap parliamentary election.