Firm global cues, gains in ICICI Bank drive Sensex 550 points higher; Nifty above 22,500

ICICI Bank rose 2% in early trade after India's second-largest private lender reported a better-than-expected 17.4% year-on-year (YoY) increase in quarterly profit and margins over the weekend.

Shares of jumped 1.3% after the firm reported a standalone net profit of Rs 3,878 crore in Q4 of FY24 which was up by 48% YoY from Rs 2,624 crore reported in the year-ago period. The profit was higher than the Street estimate of Rs 3,046 crore.

Conversely, software services provider HCLTech fell 3.5% after reporting a smaller-than-expected revenue for the same period.

On the sectoral front, Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Metals, Media, Pharma, Consumer Durables, and Oil & Gas sectors opened in positive territory, while Nifty IT, Realty, and Healthcare sectors began the session in the negative.

Meanwhile, easing concerns about a major escalation in the Middle East conflict and stable Indian corporate earnings powered the domestic benchmark indices to weekly gains on Friday.

Experts View
"The latest US core PCE inflation numbers came in on expected lines with 2.8% YoY growth. Consequently, the bond yields have marginally drifted down and the US equity markets surged last Friday. FII selling will continue, but is likely to be lower than in recent days," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

"ICICI bank results are very good. Impressive growth in deposit and credit and a decline in NPAs augur well for the stock. HCL Tech’s low guidance of 3 to 5% revenue growth in FY25 will weigh on the stock. Pharma and auto sectors will continue to remain resilient," Vijayakumar said.

Deven Mehata, Research Analyst at Choice Broking, said, "After a gap up opening nifty can find support at 22,400 followed by 22,400 and 22,350. On the higher side, 22,500 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 22,550 and 22,600."

Global Markets
Asian stocks got off to a positive start on Monday ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting later in the week.

In the broader market, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan tacked on 0.56%, helped by Wall Street's positive lead on Friday owing to a rally in megacap growth stocks. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index similarly advanced 0.77%, while China's blue-chip index edged 0.06% higher.

The upbeat sentiment spilled over into the new week, with Nasdaq futures and S&P 500 futures each rising 0.2%.

FII/DII Tracker
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold Rs 3,408.88 crore shares, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) pumped in Rs 4,356.83 crore on April 26, provisional data from the NSE showed.

Crude Oil
Oil prices fell in early Asian trading on Monday, erasing gains from Friday as Israel-Hamas peace talks in Cairo eased fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East and U.S. inflation data further dimmed the prospects of interest rate cuts anytime soon.

Brent crude futures fell by 66 cents, or 0.75% to $87.5 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were down 65 cents, or 0.75%, at $83.21 a barrel.

Currency Watch
The Indian rupee fell 4 paise to 83.42 against the US dollar in early trade. The dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against a basket of six major world currencies, declined 0.12% to 105.8 level.

(With inputs from agencies)
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)