During the special one-hour Muhurat trading session on Friday, benchmark indices ended with modest gains, marking a positive start to the new year for the seventh year in a row.
The Sensex closed at 79,724 points, gaining 335 points or 0.42 percent, while the Nifty rose 0.41 percent to 24,304.
Mahindra & Mahindra led the Nifty gainers with a rise of 3.59 per cent, followed by ONGC (2.95 per cent) and Adani Ports (1.32 per cent). Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, down 0.96 per cent, and HCL Technologies, down 0.51 per cent, were the top laggards.
Market breadth remained positive, with 3,038 advancing against 539 declining on the BSE, and 118 stocks hitting 52-week highs.
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Market experts asked investors to be cautious given high valuations and the recent wave of selling by foreign investors.
Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD & CEO, NSE, asked retail investors to pursue sustainable wealth creation through long-term investments and encouraged them to do thorough research before making investment decisions.
Pranav Haridasan, MD and CEO of Axis Securities, said the new year could see one or two rate cuts by the RBI depending on the trajectory of growth and inflation.
“While the long-term growth story for Indian equities remains stronger than ever, current valuations leave limited room for expansion. This means that corporate profit growth will be a crucial driver of market returns. Stock selection that balances growth – at a reasonable price – and quality will be key to delivering good returns in the year ahead,” Haridasan said.
VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said FPI sales could continue to weigh on the indices given high valuations in India and concerns over a slowdown in earnings growth.
Muhurat trading symbolizes the beginning of a new financial year. In 2023, Nifty had gained 0.5 percent during the special session, with an annual return of 10.1 percent. The 2022 Muhurat session saw a gain of 0.9 percent, with an annual return of -1.04 percent.
