More Stories

Informist, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025

By Anjana Therese Antony

MUMBAI – The Indian equity market got off to a positive start in the first trading session of 2025, led by a rise in shares of banking and automobile companies. Analysts said they were slightly positive about the December quarter earnings, though a significant improvement is not anticipated. However, growth is seen gaining traction in the coming quarters on likely higher government spending, rate cuts in the US and India and better demand, they said. 

The financial and auto sectors together contributed to nearly 0.3% of the rise in the Nifty 50. These two sectors together have a 42% weightage in the index. The Nifty 50 ended 0.4% higher at 23742.90 points and the BSE Sensex closed 0.5% higher at 78507.41 points. The near-term support for the 50-stock index is pegged at 23600-23580 points and resistance at 23800-23950 points, according to technical and derivatives analysts at two broking firms. 

"The year (2024) saw a series of events influencing global and Indian equity markets, leading to volatility in FII flows into India. Despite FII sell-offs causing market jitters, strong domestic liquidity has dominated flows into the Indian equity market, reducing volatility," Motilal Oswal Financial Services said in its strategy report. The year also witnessed a slowdown in consumption and corporate earnings, geopolitical uncertainties, and high valuations in some mid- and small-cap sectors, it said.

Foreign investors net purchased shares worth $884.28 million in 2024, which was only around 4% of what they bought a year ago. The second half of the year saw major foreign investor outflows, primarily due to expensive valuations, a slowdown in earnings growth, a shift in focus to the US and China, and depreciation of the rupee. The return from the market last year was only half of what investors got in the previous year with the benchmark indices rising 8% in 2024 compared with about 20% in 2023. 

On Wednesday, investors turned their attention to automobile stocks after some of the major players posted robust sales figures for December. Shares of Mahindra & Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki India ended 2.5% and 3.2% higher, respectively, after these companies' sales grew in double digits from a year ago. On the other hand, a decline in December sales pulled Escorts Kubota and Bajaj Auto shares slightly lower. The Nifty Auto was the top sectoral gainer, closing 1.3% higher at 23139.55 points, with more than half of its constituents in the green.

Among the top performers were banking stocks, most of which rose after two sessions of decline. The sector witnessed strong credit growth in FY24, which continued to outpace deposit growth, IDBI Capital Markets & Securities said in its report. The broking firm also expects credit growth to moderate in segments such as personal loans, credit cards, and non-banking financial companies in the current financial year due to the impact of increased risk weights. 

SJVN ended over 6% higher at INR 110.85 on the National Stock Exchange after the company said it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bihar government for the development of 1,000 megawatt Hathidah Durgawati pumped storage project and other pumped storage projects in the state. Karur Vysya Bank extended gains and closed nearly 4% higher at INR 225.63 after the bank said its total deposits grew nearly 16% on year as of Dec. 31. 

* Of the Nifty 50 stocks, 37 rose and 13 fell

* Of the Sensex stocks, 23 rose and 7 fell

* On the NSE, 2,048 stocks rose, 766 fell, and 78 were unchanged

* On the BSE, 2,741 stocks rose, 1,241 fell, and 90 were unchanged

* Nifty Auto: up 1.34%; Nifty Media: up 0.81%; Nifty Realty: down 1.11%

BSE                                               NSE

Sensex: 78507.41, up 368.40 points or 0.47%       Nifty 50: 23742.90, up 98.10 points or 0.41%

End

US$1 = INR 85.64

Edited by Saji George Titus

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.