NIFTY50 and SENSEX trade at lifetime high levels; Reliance trades flat ahead of its 47th AGM

The Indian equity benchmark indices were trading with modest gains on Thursday, with NIFTY50 and SENSEX trading up by 0.14% and 0.23%, respectively. Both indices were off their intraday highs, dragged by M&M (-1.33%) and Grasim (-1.68%). On the other hand, stocks like Bajaj Finance (+2.88%), ITC (+1.16%) and Reliance Industries (+0.55%) provided support to the index.

As the day progresses, market volatility is expected to surge, influenced by the August derivative contract expiry. Additionally, all eyes are on Reliance Industries (RIL), which is seen trading marginally in the green ahead of its 47th Annual General Meeting (AGM) scheduled for Thursday, August 29, 2024, at 2 PM IST.

On the options front, the maximum open interest addition in the August series have been observed at 25,000 put option (PE), while 25,100 call option (CE) has witnessed the highest open interest addition. This concentration of open interest suggests that the expiry of the August series could likely occur within this range, based on the midday session data.

On the sectoral front, the majority of the sectors were trading in red led by Nifty Metal (-1.14%), followed by Nifty Auto (- 0.74%). On the flipside, Nifty IT (+0.35%) was the top gainer.

The broader markets witnessed a severe sell-off as a result they underperformed the frontline indices, with the Nifty Smallcap 100 and Nifty Midcap 100 shedding 0.83% and 0.84%, respectively. The market breadth was in favour of declining stocks, with 1,656 stocks declining compared to 660 advancing stocks.