Benchmark indices traded marginally higher as of afternoon trade on September 5, but it was the broader market that stole the show. The Nifty Midcap 100 charged past the 40,000 mark for the first time while the Nifty SmallCap 100 index scaled a fresh all-time high as investors showered love on the broader market.
Around 11.30 am, the Sensex was up 165.13 points or 0.25 percent at 65,793.27, and the Nifty was up 51.40 points or 0.26 percent at 19,580.20. However, the Nifty Midcap 100 traded a percent higher at 40216.80 while the Nifty Smallcap 100 rose 1.1 percent to 12,692.00.
Widespread gains in the broader market also improved the overall market breadth as about 2,007 shares rose, 1,025 shares fell, and 119 shares unchanged. This suggests that nearly two stocks rose for each one that fell.
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Rahul Arora, CEO of Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities believes that the market is facing a shortage of attractive investment opportunities, as many decent stocks have been bought up and are no longer available at lower prices. As a result, investors are going out-of-the-box and looking towards stocks they wouldn’t typically consider, leading to previously overlooked scrips, predominantly in the broader market suddenly becoming expensive.
Some analysts on the Street also feel that the outperformance of small and midcap stocks as against their large-cap peers will continue in the near-term, though bouts of profit-taking cannot be ruled out.
Stocks and Sectors
Among specific stocks, Apollo Hospitals emerged as the top gainer on the Nifty 50, up nearly 3 percent buoyed by a robust outlook for hospitals. A steep rise in crude oil prices over the past week amid expectations of a production cut from OPEC+ aided sentiment for Oil and Natural Gas Corp and lifted the stock around 1.5 percent higher.
Robust gains in most oil and gas counters triggered an over 1 percent jump in the S&P BSE Oil and Gas index, making it the best performing sector of the session.
Another buzzing stock was Raymond as it shot up around 12 percent and hit a lifetime high after brokerages rolled out a solid growth outlook for the company. Meanwhile, infrastructure company Vishnu Prakash R Punglia also made a stellar debut on the bourses as it listed at a premium of 66.7 percent to its issue price of Rs 99.
Among the outliers, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories dropped over a percent following news of being approached by private equity firm Bain Capital to make a joint bid for the promoter’s stake in Cipla.
Metal names also witnessed profit booking after posting strong gains in the previous session. Hindalco, NALCO, SAIL, and Tata Steel were down 1-2 percent.
Also Read | Nifty MidCap breaches 40,000 mark first time, SmallCap index scales record high
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