Nifty fluctuates after reaching record highs in early trade

MUMBAI: Nifty scaled to new highs in Thursday’s session to close with gains of 33 points at 20,103 levels after WPI inflation stayed negative for the fifth month at 0.52 per cent in August, Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Broader market outperformed with Nifty Mid-cap 100 and Small- cap 100 up 1 per cent. Majority of the sectors ended in green with buying seen in PSU bank, realty, auto, and metal stocks.

“Overall, we expect the market to maintain its positive trend on the back of strong domestic macroeconomic data. However, bouts of volatility cannot be ruled out given mixed global cues. On Friday, markets will track US PPI and retail sales data, which would be important for the US Fed rate decision next week,” Khemka said.

Asian stocks rose on Thursday, as traders felt that a small upside surprise for US inflation is unlikely to push up interest rates, said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.

European markets were mixed on Thursday, as investors in the region waited on a crucial decision from the European Central Bank on whether to raise euro zone interest rates for a 10th straight meeting.

Meanwhile, India’s domestic air traffic in August rose 22.81 per cent compared to the same month last year, but was flat compared to July. Air traffic increased 30.55 per cent to 10.06 crore passengers in the January-August period as compared to last year’s data, Jasani said.

Volumes on the NSE were the lowest in several days as buying interest in large-caps petered out at higher levels, Jasani said.