The domestic equity benchmarks traded with moderate gains in mid-morning trade. The Sensex and the Nifty, both, attained record high levels in morning trade. The Nifty traded above the 22,450 mark. Realty shares rallied for the seventh day in a row.

At 11:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 415.32 points or 0.57% to 74,075.17. The Nifty 50 index gained 151.40 points or 0.68% to 22,478.30.

The Sensex clocked an all-time high of 74,254.62 while the Nifty hit record high of 22,529.95 in morning trade.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 1.42% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 2.33%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 3,080 shares rose and 610 shares fell. A total of 163 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India’s forex reserves rose $140 million during the week ended March 22 to touch its all-time high of $642.631 billion, according to the latest RBI data. This is the fifth consecutive week of a jump in the overall reserves.

For the week ended March 22, the foreign currency assets decreased by $123 million to $568.264 billion. Gold reserves rose $347 million to $51.487 billion during the week. The special drawing rights (SDRs) were down by $57 million to $18.219 billion, the RBI said.

India’s reserve position with the IMF was also down by $27 million to $4.662 billion in the reporting week, the RBI data showed.

Meanwhile, the combined Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) increased by 6.7% (provisional) in February 2024 as compared to the Index of February 2023. The final growth rate of Index of Eight Core Industries for November 2023 is revised to 7.9%. The cumulative growth rate of ICI during April to February, 2023-24 is 7.7% (provisional) as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Realty index advanced 3.68% 933.80. The index surged 12.61% in the seven trading sessions.

DLF (up 6.28%), Prestige Estates Projects (up 5.53%), Sunteck Realty (up 5.29%), Mahindra Lifespace Developers (up 4.08%) and Godrej Properties (up 3.88%), Oberoi Realty (up 3.23%), Brigade Enterprises (up 2.58%), Macrotech Developers (up 2.43%), Sobha (up 1.95%) and Phoenix Mills (up 0.98%) edged higher.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Indian Oil Corporation rose 1.07% after the company announced that it has signed a binding term sheet with Panasonic Energy Co. to draw a framework for formation of a JV for manufacturing cylindrical lithium-ion cells in India.

Veranda Learning Solutions rallied 5.10% after the company acquired 50% of equity shares in Tapasya Educational Institutions (TEIPL) through its subsidiary, Veranda XL Learning Solutions.

Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL) gained 3.08% after the civil construction firm said that it has emerged as the lowest bidder (L1) for a project awarded by South Eastern Railway to upgrade electric traction system for Rs 148.26 crore.

Biocon rose 1.70% after the company has received an approval from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), U.K., for its complex formulation Liraglutide (gSaxenda).

Global Markets:

Most of the Asian stocks traded higher on Monday as US inflation figures reaffirmed bets for the Federal Reserve to ease policy this year and China’s economic recovery gained momentum. Australian and Hong Kong markets are closed for Easter Monday.

China’s National Bureau of Statistics data showed that manufacturing activity expanded in March, with the purchasing managers index registering a reading of 50.8, compared to February’s reading of 49.1.

U.S. markets remained closed on Friday in observance of Good Friday. The core personal consumption expenditures price index rose 0.3% in February after climbing in the previous month, marking its biggest back-to-back gain in a year. The measure is up 2.8% from a year earlier.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Friday the central bank’s preferred gauge of inflation was “pretty much in line with our expectations.” Powell added that it wouldn’t be appropriate to lower rates until officials are sure inflation is in check. Investors are betting the US central bank will make that first cut in June, as per reports.