Stock Market Live: Nifty, Sensex Near Lifetime Highs; Nifty Bank Hits Record High

The index rose in the seventh consecutive session today to hit its lifetime high of 53,398.85 points. Most stocks were up with ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank led the gains.

IIFL Finance shares surged to its five-month high on Friday after RBI removed restrictions on gold loan business. The restrictions, placed in March, had required IIFL Finance to stop lending against gold with immediate effect. The banking regulator had then found serious operational lapses in the company's operations.

The brokerage maintains a 'sell' on Vodafone with higher target of Rs 2.5, implying downside of 76%. The company has annual dues of $3.3 billion from FY26, rising to $5 billion from FY27, it said adding that AGR dues event increases probability of more tariff hikes for Vodafone. It expects cashflow to be negative for Vodafone Idea until FY31 and estimates ARPU to rise to Rs270 by 150% to be cashflow neutral

On Bharti Airtel, it maintains 'buy' with a target of Rs 1,700, implying upside of 1.7%. It has estimates elevated investments to translate into share gains and said this would be aided by tariff hikes in 2HCY25.

The brokerage has also maintained 'sell' on Indus Towers with target of Rs 350, implying downside of 11%. It said near term looks strong, limited visibility to long term growth. This is because of estimated share loss of Vodafone idea, it said.

Nomura has upgraded Vodafone to 'buy', keeping target unchanged at Rs 15, implying upside of 44.5%. Th company is likely to use the option of converting debt to equity, it said adding that it has total dues of Rs 430 billion to government starting FY26/27. It said that company will be able to convert Rs 120 billion of dues into equity.

Investec has rated Mankind Pharma as "buy" with target price of Rs 3,300 per share and upside 37.7%. The stock is the brokerage's top Pick as it outperforms IPM, supported by over 16,000 sales force and popular brands like Manforce and PregaNews.

Recently acquired Bharat Serums and Vaccines adds R&D strength in women's health and IVF, enhancing MNKI's specialty offerings, it said adding that it believes BSV has potential to drive growth for longer periods.

Citi Research has maintained a 'buy' rating on Airtel and has raised its target price to Rs 1950 from Rs 1750, implying upside of 16%. The target price upgrade is driven by solid execution driving market share gains, favourable industry outlook, robust earnings growth, solid FCF generation, deleveraging, and prudent capital allocation.

Benchmark equity indices opened higher on Friday tracking gains in its global peers led by rise in shares of heavyweights HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries.

At pre-open, the Nifty was at 25525.9, up 0.58% or 148.40 points and the Sensex was at 83602.61, up 0.79% or 654.38 points.

According to Vikas Jain, head of research at Reliance Securities, a rally in the global market, good monsoon and favorable government policy will be support domestic market. "Expectation of stock and sector specific action to be continue," he said. "Technically, Nifty sustained above 25350nlevel in the last few sessions, indicating upward journey to be continue. "

Shares of HDFC Bank, M&M, Reliance Industries Ltd., JSW Steel Ltd., and Infosys Ltd. contributed the most to gains. While those of Tata Motors Ltd., Axis Bank Ltd., UltraTech Cement Ltd., and Asian Paints Ltd. weighed.

All sectoral indices opened higher with Nifty Metal leading.

At pre-open, the Nifty was at 25525.9, up 0.58% or 148.40 points and the Sensex was at 83602.61, up 0.79% or 654.38 points.

The yield on the 10-year bond opened flat at 6.76% after closing at 6.76% on Thursday, according to Bloomberg.

Rupee strengthened by 6 paise to open 83.63 against the US dollar after it closed at 83.69 on Thursday, according to Bloomberg.

Bank of Japan has kept the overnight call rate at 0.25%, as expected. Yen strengthened after the decision. Bank of Japan said that the underlying inflation is expected to increase gradually and the economy is likely to keep growing above potential growth rate.

Source: Bloomberg

Citi has maintained 'sell' on Lupin with target price of Rs 1,700 implying downside of 21.7% and Zydus Lifescience with target price of Rs 900 implying downside of 14.7%. It said that the US appeals vacates district court judgement in gMyrbetriq. Myrbetriq had contributed meaningfully in 1QFY25 numbers for both companies.

Axis Bank has clarified that its unit Axis Capital's activities were 'Bona Fide' and in compliance and that the arm will have no material impact due to SEBI Order

SEBI has barred Axis Capital from managing new debt offerings.

Source: Exchange filing

KRN Heat Exchangers has set IPO price band at Rs 209-220/share. The bid for issue will open on September 25 & close on September 27.

Source: Company Statement

Nuvama has maintained 'hold' with a lower target of Rs 11.5, implying upside of 10.2% as against Rs 16.5 earlier. It sees Supreme Court verdict as a big problem, even after its FPO and tariff hikes, is highly stretched balance sheet. It added that the company needed capital infusion, tariff hikes and liabilities waiver to survive and while the first two conditions have been met, liabilities waiver now appears to be off the table.

Citi Research, which maintain 'buy' has reduced target to Rs 17 from Rs 22 , upside. The new target implies 63% upside. It said it does not believe this impacts the ability to continue with planned network investments

Board has approved acquisition of further 9.56% in arm Elica PB for Rs 167 crore and post acquisition, company to hold 96.81% shares of arm.

Source: Exchange filing

The US Dollar index was at 100.62 and the country's 10-year bond yield was at 3.71%. Brent crude was 0.3% down at $79.78 per barrel.

As of 8:13 a.m., the GIFT Nifty, an early indicator of the Nifty 50 index was at 25,520.00, down by 44 points or 0.17%.

The Nifty September futures were up by 0.43% to 25,506 at a premium of 91 points and open interest rose 0.4%.

Nifty Bank September futures up by 0.8% to 53,177 at a premium of 140 points and open interest was up 0.87%.

In the Nifty options expiring Sept. 26, maximum call open interest at 27,000 and maximum put open interest at 25,000. 

Meanwhile, in Bank Nifty options expiring Sept 25, maximum call open Interest at 53,000 and maximum put open interest at 52,000.

Shares of Aarti Industries, Biocon, Birla soft, Chambal Fertilizer, GNFC, Granules, LIC Housing Finance, National Aluminium, Oracle Financial Services, PNB, RBL Bank, and Sail are banned from F&O trading on Friday.

In bulk deals on Thursday, Rohini Nilekani Small Cap Portfolio bought 8.13 lakh shares or 0.62% stake in Allcargo Gati at Rs 105.21 apiece and India Advantage Fund S4-I sold 10 lakh shares or 1.04% stake in EPACK Durable at Rs 380.19 apiece.

Damani Radhakishan also sold 1 lakh shares or 0.64% in VST Industries through a bulk deal at Rs 439.05 apiece. Among the buyers were Reliance Mutual Fund bought 0.85 lakh shares or 0.55% stake in the company at Rs 439.96 apiece and Thrift Savings Plan bought 0.83 lakh shares or 0.54% stake at Rs 440.74 apiece.

Shares of IIFL Finance are expected to gain after RBI lifted its restrictions imposed in March on gold loans businesses those of NTPC are likely to rise as it received investment approval for Darlipali project at an estimated cost of Rs 11,131 crore.

Reliance Infra will react to the company approving fund raise and IDFC Bank to the news of RBI approval for re-appointment of V Vaidyanathan as MD and CEO for three years.

Infosys share price will also be monitored on collaboration with Posti for operational efficiency solutions via Infosys Topaz and Tata Power sought arbitration in dispute with Adaro International over coal supply.

Power Grid Corp's stock are likely to rise as it was declared a successful bidder for the Khavda transmission project in Gujarat.

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The GIFT Nifty was trading 9 points, or 0.04%, lower at 25,555 as of 06:36 a.m. Shares of IIFL Finance Ltd., Infosys Ltd., NTPC Ltd., and Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. will remain in focus today.

Indian market will also track other Asia-pacific share indices, which rose on Friday before the outcome of the Bank of Japan's policy meeting. The central bank is expected to keep the rates unchanged, according to Bloomberg.

The Nikkei 225 was trading 719.07 points or 1.94% higher at 37,874.40, and the KOSPI was 26.06 points or 1.01% higher at 2,606.86 as of 06:28 a.m.

US stocks ended higher on Friday after the Federal Reserve reduced benchmark rates in line with most market participants' expectations. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ended 1.70% or 2.51% higher, respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average settled 1.26% higher.

The December contract of the brent crude was trading 0.25% lower at $74.69 a barrel as of 06:31 a.m. The Bloomberg spot Gold was 1.79% higher at $2,588.53.

The Nifty and Sensex ended at fresh closing highs on Thursday as risk appetite increased among traders as the US Federal Open Market Committee guided for more rate cuts after reducing key rates by 50 basis points.

The Nifty ended 38.25 points, or 0.15% higher at 25,415.80, and Sensex settled up 236.57 points, or 0.29% at 83,184.80.

Overseas investors turned net sellers of Indian equities on Thursday after two days of buying. Foreign portfolio investors offloaded stocks worth Rs 2,547.5 crore, according to provisional data from the National Stock Exchange.

Domestic institutional investors stayed net buyers for the fifth consecutive session and purchased equities worth approximately Rs 2,012.9 crore, the NSE data showed.

The Indian rupee appreciated 7 paise to end at 83.69 against the US dollar.