Market sentiments get a boost after IMF raises GDP target

New Delhi, Oct 11: Market sentiments were buoyed after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised India’s FY24 GDP growth forecast to 6.3 per cent from 6.1 per cent, and strong quarterly business updates coming from several corporates, said Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

At close on Wednesday, Nifty was up 0.62 per cent or 121.5 points at 19,811.35, while Sensex settled at 66,473.05, up 394 points or 0.60 per cent.

Among the sectors, the major gainers were auto, FMCG and realty, while PSU bank and IT closed in red.

“Going forward, we expect the market momentum to continue on the back of positive global cues, easing of US bond yields, and strong domestic economic position. Further, with the start of Q2 results, we expect a lot of stock-specific action as well as sectoral rotation in the market,” Khemka said.

The IT sector will be in focus as TCS will announce its Q2FY24 post-market results on Wednesday, followed by Infosys and HCL Tech on Thursday.

On the economic front, investors will take cues from the FOMC meeting minutes and US core PPI data to be released late on Wednesday. Markets will also watch for UK GDP data, India CPI and manufacturing output data and US CPI data to be released on Thursday, Khemka said.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said the total market breadth is strong, as investors believe that the Middle East skirmish will be contained within the region and should not impact crude prices. Amid dovish comments from the US Federal Reserve, the US 10-year bond yield traded lower.