Market Starts FY25 With A Big Bang: Sensex Hits Lifetime High 74,254.62, Nifty Touches Record 22,529.95

The start of FY25 has been impressive as the Indian stock market made banger opening to hit new lifetime highs. Sensex touched its highest level in history at 74,254.62, while Nifty 50 also followed the trend by hitting its record high of 22,529.95. All sectoral indices are in green, while India's volatility index slipping by 2%.

At the time of writing, Sensex performed at 74,169.77, up by 518.22 points or 0.7%. The benchmark opened at 73,968.62 and skyrocketed to hit its new 52-week high or lifetime high of 74,254.62.

Meanwhile, Nifty 50 performed at 22,503.05, up by 176.15 points or 0.79%. In the opening bell, the benchmark touched a new historic high of 22,529.95, after opening at 22,455.

Stocks like JSW Steel, M&M, Tata Steel, L&T, Tata Motors, and Ultratech Cement were top gainers. However, stocks like IndusInd Bank, Titan, Maruti Suzuki, and Reliance were top laggards.

Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices surged between 1-2%.

All sectoral indices performed higher. Financial services, Media, Metal, PSU Banks, Realty, and Consumer Durables were top performers.

Markets are trading higher tracking positive global cues after key economic data escalated hopes for easing in policy by US Federal Reserve sooner-than-expected. Asian shares were up after Chinese factory activity rose for the first time in six months, while US stocks ended in green last week with S&P 500 recording its best first quarter in five years.

This week, trading in the Indian stock market will be influenced by a flurry of big data such as US PMI and US, factory orders, US unemployment data, and RBI's first bi-monthly policy for FY25 where another status quo is expected.

In addition to global trends and economic data, industry and stock-specific performances will be seen due to auto monthly sales, metal monthly production figures, and betting ahead of the Q4FY24 earnings season.

Dr V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, at Geojit Financial Services, said, "The undertone of the market is bullish and there is momentum in the market. The market has been showing signs of consolidation but the spurt in Nifty by 322 points on the last 2 trading days indicates that the upward momentum can sustain."

He further pointed out that there are reports of mutual funds introducing restrictions on redemptions from the smallcap schemes. This is in response to the ' frothy' valuation in this segment and the concerns expressed by the regulator.

He added, "The consequence of this action would be higher flows of funds into the largecaps, which, in turn, can lift the largecaps. So, watch out for large caps in automobiles, capital goods, financials and select pharma which is likely to post good Q4 numbers."

Also, the strategist said, "The RBI monetary policy meeting scheduled for April 3 to 5 is likely to keep rates unchanged and, therefore, is unlikely to impact the market."

Further, on rupee vs dollar paid, Rahul Kalantri, VP of Commodities, Mehta Equities said, "As per the weekly technical chart the pair is having support at 83.22-83.05 while resistance is placed at 83.60-83.85. The pair is trading above its support level of 83.05 and is expected to trade in the range of 82.80-84.10 this week. We suggest closely watching the levels of 83.22-83.55 for taking fresh positions in the pair; either side breakout of the range could give further directions."