Stock markets continued their forward march on Monday resulting in key equity indices — Nifty and Sensex — closing at four-month high levels. Markets were buoyed by a jump in the share price of Reliance Industries (RIL) on the back of news that the company alone had added more than 2.3 lakh jobs in the country during FY22.

The Sensex gained 465 points or 0.8 per cent to close at 58,853 on the day and the Nifty gained 127 points or 0.73 per cent to close at 17,525. Scrip of Reliance Industries rose 1.3 per cent.

FPIs turn buyers

Selling pressure by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) has subsided and in fact, they have turned buyers in the Indian markets in August. This month so far, FPIs have purchased stocks worth ₹8,441 crore in the cash segment. In the derivatives segment, FPIs were net sellers to the tune of ₹997 crore in index futures. At the same time, FPIs were net buyers in the stock futures to the tune of ₹1,692 crore. Experts say the figures are positive compared to a few weeks ago, when FPIs were heavy sellers in all the segments on a daily basis.

In the absence of any major global news events in the coming days, the markets will be focused on the upcoming annual general meetings of major listed companies and quarterly results, experts said.

Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities, said: “Technically, after a muted opening, the market successfully cleared the short term resistance of 17,500 which is broadly positive. Bullish candle on daily charts and intraday breakout formation is indicating a further uptrend from the current levels. For benchmark Nifty, the key support level is 17,400 and above which, the breakout formation is likely to continue till 17,650-17,700. On the other hand, below 17,400, the index could slip till 17,325-17,300.”

Money market action

Meanwhile, the rupee closed 43 paise weaker despite central bank intervention in the face of dollar gaining strength against major currencies and substantial demand for the greenback from importers. The Indian unit closed at 79.6650 per dollar against the previous close of 79.2350. The rupee hit an intraday high and low of 79.45 and 79.6650, respectively.

Government Securities (G-secs) yields moved up, tracking US treasury yields, which rose on the back of stronger-than-expected jobs data for July. Yield of the 10-year benchmark G-Sec jumped about 5 basis points to close at 7.3485 per cent (previous close: 7.3005 per cent), with its price declining 31 paise to ₹94.56 (₹94.87).

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