Bajaj twins drive Nifty to lifetime high; Sensex reclaims 75,000

Bajaj Finance shares rose over 6% after the non-bank lender said the Reserve Bank of India lifted restrictions on its lending products, allowing it to "resume sanction and disbursal of loans" in the banned segments. The stock also emerged as the top gainer on the Sensex.

Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Wipro, and ICICI Bank also opened higher from the Sensex pack, while Bharti Airtel, L&T, Maruti, Tech Mahindra, and Nestle India opened lower.

On the sectoral front, Financial Services surged over 1% higher, while Nifty Bank rose 0.5%. Additionally, Nifty Auto, Media, Metal, Pharma, and Realty also opened with gains.

The U.S. jobs data, due later in the day, is also on investors' radar for cues on the Fed's interest rate trajectory.

Experts View
"Global and domestic cues are positive for the markets. The decline in dollar index to 105.3, correction in the US 10-year bond yield to around 4.5% and Brent crude below $ 84 will further strengthen the bulls. The strong pillar of support for this market is the strong buying by DIIs facilitated by the sustained flow of funds. This trend is unlikely to change anytime soon," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Deven Mehata, Research Analyst at Choice Broking, said, "Nifty can find support at 22,650 followed by 22,600 and 22,550. On the higher side, 22,800 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 22,850 and 22,900."

Global Markets
Asian markets opened higher, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index rising 1.1%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index spiked 2% higher, on course for a 5% gain for the week.

Wall Street equities rose overnight after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that further interest rate increases remained unlikely.

FII/DII Tracker
Foreign institutional investors sold Indian shares on Thursday, offloading stocks worth Rs 964 crore. However, domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 1,352 crore on a net basis, cushioning the foreign outflows.

Crude Oil
Oil prices edged up in early trade on Friday on the prospect of OPEC+ continuing output cuts, but the crude benchmarks were headed for weekly losses on U.S. economic uncertainty and limited crude supply disruptions caused by the Israel-Hamas war.

Brent crude futures for July rose 18 cents to $83.86 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for June was up 19 cents to $79.14 per barrel.

Currency Watch
The Indian rupee rose 6 paise to 83.40 against the US dollar in early trade, fuelled by the drop in U.S. Treasury yields before the U.S jobs report.

The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six peers, was last at 105.25. The index is set to clock a 0.7% decline for the week, its worst weekly performance since early March.

(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)