After a record-breaking start on July 3, the benchmark indices Nifty and Sensex held firm gains, driven by a sharp rise in bank stocks led by HDFC and a strong performance in the FMCG index, keeping investors optimistic.

At about 11:30 am, the Sensex was up 0.55 percent at 79,879 and the Nifty was up 0.57 percent at 24,260. About 2,148 shares advanced, 1,172 shares declined, and 86 shares unchanged.

The major surge comes from HDFC Bank's weightage in the MSCI index is expected to rise as FIIs have greater room to buy stock, potentially helping the index rise. This led to a rally in the Bank Nifty, also hitting a record high of 53,201.50. HDFC is the country's largest private bank.

The broader market, which includes midcap and smallcap indices, underperformed the headline indices after the two rose 0.5 and 0.8 percent, respectively.

Fundamental View

Sensex crossing the 80,000 mark is a big achievement for the Indian stock market. About 16 years ago it was at 8,800 when Lehman, the leading bank in the US markets, crashed. Based on the current domestic macros, our advice is to continue investing systematically in equities with a long-term perspective," Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research at Koatk Securities said.

Technical View

"Nifty can find support at 24,100 followed by 24,000 and 23,950. On the higher side, 24,250 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 24,300 and 24,400," Deven Mehata of Choice Broking said. "The charts of Bank Nifty indicate that it may get support at 52,100, followed by 52,000 and 51,800," he added.

Sectoral Trend

Of the 13 sectoral indices, Bank Nifty, Pharma, and FMCG were the top performers with banks in the driving seat. HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Axis Bank were the major gainers. Energy, Infra, and IT shed, stock exchange data showed.

The fear gauge, or the volatility index cooled off slightly by 1.7 percent to be around the 13.6 level.

Key Nifty gainers

HDFC Bank, Tata Consumer Products, Dr Reddy's Labs, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Key Nifty losers

TCS, Reliance, Hindalco, Cipla, and Tata Motors.

Key Sensex gainers

HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, and Wipro.

Key Sensex losers

Reliance, TCS, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Motors and HCL Tech

Stock Moves

MOIL: Shares surged as much as 9 percent after the company posted record quarterly sales and production since inception during the April-June quarter of FY25. The company's sales grew 14.5 percent on year to an all-time high in Q1FY25 backed by a record quarterly production which rose to 4.70 lakh tonne, higher by 7.8 percent on-year.

KEC International: The counter rose over 7 percent to a record high after securing new orders of Rs 1,017 crore in Transmission & Distribution (T&D) and Renewables businesses. The business has won orders for the EPC project and supply of towers in the Middle East.