Mumbai

Indian equity markets ended the week on a stable note after a volatile trading session. The Sensex closed at 79,996, down slightly by 53 points, while the Nifty saw a modest gain of 21 points, reaching 24,323, an increase of 0.09 percent. Noteworthy was the strong buying interest in midcap and smallcap stocks, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index rising by 470 points (0.83 percent) to 57,089, and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index climbing 148 points (0.79 percent) to 18,941.

However, HDFC Bank, a major private lender, experienced a decline of 4.58 percent, contributing to a 0.83 percent drop in the Nifty Bank index by the market close. On the positive side, stocks such as Reliance, SBI, NTPC, HUL, L&T, Nestle, Power Grid, ITC, JSW Steel, Wipro, Sun Pharma, Kotak Mahindra, and Bajaj Finance recorded gains. Conversely, HDFC Bank, Titan, Tata Steel, M&M, IndusInd Bank, and UltraTech Cement ended the day with losses.

Vaibhav Vidwani, a Research Analyst at Bonanza Portfolio, pointed out that Asian markets reached new highs, buoyed by expectations of potential U.S. interest rate cuts in September. The decline in the 10-year US treasury yield ahead of Friday’s jobs data hinted at market anticipation of economic cooling, potentially supporting future Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.