Sensex Today | Share Market Live Updates: Sensex up 400 pts, Nifty above 21600;

Oil prices rose on Thursday, extending gains from the previous day, on concerns about Middle Eastern supply disruptions at a field in Libya and heightened tension around the Israel-Gaza war.

Brent crude rose 33 cents to $78.58 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed 40 cents to $73.10.

Deposits climbed 13% on year to ₹3.68 trillion.

The Centre has called off the strategic disinvestment of Salem Steel Plant, a unit of SAIL in Tamil Nadu, due to lack of interest from shortlisted bidders.

“Multiple EoIs had been received and bidders were shortlisted. However, due to lack of interest of shortlisted bidders to proceed further with the transaction, Government of India, with the approval of Alternative Mechanism (Empowered Group of Ministers) has decided to annul the current EoI thereby terminating the present transaction,” the department of investment and public asset management said in a statement Wednesday.

The Sensex was up 277.82 points at 71,634.42 in opening deals, and the Nifty rose 73.50 points to 21,590.80. 

Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Adani Ports, Tata Motors and Infosys were among the top gainers on the Nifty, while BPCL, Bajaj Auto, Dr Reddy’s Labs, L&T and HCL Technologies were the worst hit.

India’s benchmark indices were higher in pre-open trade. The Sensex was up 189.90 points at 71,546.50, and the Nifty rose 78.60 points to 21,595.90.

We believe Nifty is not just over-valued, but it is in bubble territory. The small caps and mid-caps are even more exorbitantly priced than Nifty and represent even a bigger bubble. We see a 10-15% correction in Nifty in the current quarter and 15-20% correction in small and mid-caps. For CY 2024 the downside in Nifty could be as much as 25% and in small and mid-caps it could be 30-35%. We see robust IPO activity to continue in the current quarter but will probably start fading from next quarter onwards. By the end of CY 24 the IPO market could largely be dead. We expect the activity in the Private equity side to take even a bigger hit by the end of CY 24. We remain bullish on long term GOI bonds as RBI and other central banks will cut rates aggressively in the H2 of CY 24 as the economies slow down dramatically.

NIFTY-50 has closed at 5 days low and the 20 day average placed at 21,320 will act as strong support from current levels.

On the higher side the month opening of 21700 will act as strong resistance and crossover of the same would push the index higher to 22,000 levels.

RSI is being oversold on hourly charts and other key other key technical indicators could show mixed action with respect to the weekly expiry.

Highest call OI has moved lower to 21,600 strike while on the downside the highest put OI has moved lower to 21,500 for the weekly expiry.

The government may set a divestment target for…