Stock Market Highlights- Second phase of special session ends higher! Nifty at 22,500, Sensex at 74,000; Nifty Midcap 100 near all-time high

Courtesy: NSE

The Nifty Midcap 100 hit its all-time high of 51,916.45. The sectoral index opened the day’s trading at 51,832.20 during the special trading session being conducted on May 18.

Nestle India’s shares surged 3% to an intraday high of Rs 2,518.75 after its shareholders voted against an increase in royalty payment to the parent company. As many as 70% of Nestle India’s public shareholders and 57% of total shareholders have voted against the increase in royalty payment to the parent company.

Nestle India, Power Grid Corp, ONGC, Hindalco, and Hero MotoCorp were the top gainers in the Nifty 50. While JSW Steel, Apollo Hospitals, M&M, HDFC Life Insurance, and Axis Bank were the major losers in the second phase of the special trading session being conducted on May 18.

The NSE Nifty was up 33 points or 0.15% at 22,499, while the BSE Sensex was up 89 points or 0.12% at 74,006.03.

The NSE Nifty 50 ends 0.07% higher to settle at 22,481.90, while the BSE Sensex jumped 0.06% to 73,959.64. Bank Nifty index ended higher by 0.07% to settle at 48,149.10. Media and Realty stocks outperformed among the other sectoral indices while Bank and Financial services stocks gained marginally.

“The Bank Nifty index managed to close above the level of 48,000 but was unable to surpass the 20DMA, which is placed at 48,200. A break above the 20DMA will lead to further upside towards 49,000, with short covering likely to come into play. The lower-end support is placed at the 47,600-47,500 levels, and as long as the index sustains above this level, the view remains bullish” said Kunal Shah, Senior Technical & Derivative Analyst at LKP Securities.

Commenting on the Technical outlook of Nifty Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst, LKP Securities, said The Nifty index continued its ongoing momentum but failed to surpass the 22,500 mark, where the highest open interest is built up on the call side. For the index to achieve its all-time high level in the near term, it needs to break this level decisively. The downside support is placed at 22,300, and dips towards this support level should be seen as an ideal opportunity to initiate long positions.

ONGC, Power Grid Corp, Nestle India, Grasim, and Hero MotoCorp are the top gainers on NSE in the first phase of special trading session whereas the top laggards include JSW Steel, Divi’s Lab, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Consumer Products, and Axis Bank.

The benchmark equity indices opened first phase of special trading trading session in the positive territory. The NSE Nifty 50 opens up by 0.21% at 22,512.65, while the BSE Sensex gains marginally higher by just 0.01% to 73,921.46

Asain markerts to remain close on Saturday, and endend in mixed on Friday. The Asia Dow is trading up by 0.08%, where as the Japan’s Nikkei 225 is ended in red, down by 0.34%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is ended higher by 0.91% and the benchmark Chinese index Shanghai Composite is ended up by 1.01%.

The US Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the value of the dollar against a basket of six foreign currencies, traded unchanged at 104.49.

Indian stock markets are set to remain operational on Saturday, May 18, 2024, as both the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) have scheduled a special trading session. 

The primary session for the cash market will commence with the morning block deal window from 8:45 AM to 9:00 AM, followed by the pre-open session from 9:00 AM to 9:08 AM. Regular trading for the primary session will run from 9:15 AM to 10:00 AM, followed by a break until 11:15 AM.

For the second session at the disaster recovery site, the pre-open session will run from 11:15 AM to 11:23 AM, with normal trading scheduled from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM. Post-close order closing and modifications will be allowed until 1:00 PM.

WTI crude prices are trading at $83.72 up by 5.67%, while Brent crude prices are trading at $89.29 up by 7.23%, on Saturday morning.

U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) reached an intra-day high of 40,000 for the first time. Investors continued to recalibrate their rate-cut expectations following data indicating a slowdown in inflation and strong corporate earnings results, Reuters reported. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended down by 12.35 points or 0.07% at 16,685.97. The S&P 500 ended higher by 6.17 points or 0.12% at 5,303.27, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by 101.69 points or 0.26% at 39,971.07.