Sensex, Nifty Retreat Slightly After Hitting New Record Highs

Despite positive global cues and rising optimism about more interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and a few other major central banks, Indian shares are turning in a mixed performance Friday morning with investors largely making cautious moves after recent strength.

Still, benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty50 hit new record highs this morning. The Sensex, which climbed to 85,978.25, was down 80.95 points or 0.09% at 85,755.17 a little while ago, while the Nifty50, which advanced to 26,277.35, was up slighlty at 26,216.75.

Among the gainers in the Sensex, Infosys is gaining nearly 2%. The IT major announced strategic collaboration with Sally Beauty to bring enterprise scale IT efficiencies from hyper automation.

Titan is climbing nearly 2%. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank and Asian Paints are up 1.5 to 1.8%.

Hind Unilever, HCL Technologies, NTPC, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, ITC, M&M and Maruti Suzuki are moderately higher.

Among the losers, Power Grid Corporation is down 2.7%. Bharti Airtel is lower by about 1.9%, and Larsen & Toubro is down 1.3%. HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank and ICICI Bank are down 0.7 to 1%. Reliance Industries is down 0.3%.

BPCL, up 3.7%, is the top gainer in the Nifty50 index. Grasim Industries is gaining nearly 2%. Coal India, Cipla, HDFC Life, Britannia Industries, SBI Life and Eicher Motors are also up in positive territory.

HeroMotocorp, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Divi’s Laboratories and ONGC are weak.

KEC International Limited announced that it has raised over Rs 870 crore through a qualified institutional placement of shares at a price of Rs 955 per share. KEC International shares are down 0.8%.

Biocon Limited shares are down marginally. The company announced that it has signed a licensing and supply agreement with Tabuk Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Company (a fully-owned subsidiary of Astra Industrial Group), to commercialize its GLP-1 products for treating diabetes and chronic weight management, in select countries of the Middle East.

Adani Green Energy Limited has announced the completion of the 1,150 MWac joint venture (JV) with TotalEnergies. As part of the JV, TotalEnergies invested US$ 444 million in AGEL subsidiary, for acquiring 50% stake in AGEL’s solar projects located at the world’s largest renewable energy plant in Khavda, Gujarat. The stock is up marginally at Rs 2,061.