The first day of the Financial Year 2024-25 began with a bang as the indices hit fresh highs to extend the winning streak to a third straight session on Monday.

The markets started the new financial year on a robust note and were seen compounding their gains with buying seen across sectors, especially in power, realty and metal names.

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Sensex was up 363.20 points, or 0.49 per cent, at 74,014.55, and the Nifty was up 135.10 points, or 0.61 per cent, at 22,462 at the time of close.

All the sectoral indices ended in the green barring auto. Metal, power, capital goods, healthcare and realty were up 1 to 4 per cent, while oil & gas, information technology and PSU banks were up 0.5 per cent each.

Nifty 50 opened at 22,455, up 128 points against the previous close of 22,326.90 while the Sensex opened 317 points higher at 73,968.62 against its previous close of 73,651.35.

The Mid and smallcap indices clocked robust gains with the BSE Midcap index rose 1.64 per cent while the Smallcap index jumped 2.98 per cent.

BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 held gains in the afternoon after hitting record highs, while broader markets outperformed, with the Nifty Smallcap 250 index zooming as much as 2.7 per cent, and the Nifty Midcap 150 index rising 1.6 per cent.

The overall mcap of BSE-listed firms rose to nearly Rs 393.2 lakh crore from nearly Rs 387 lakh crore in the previous session, making investors richer by nearly Rs 6.2 lakh crore in a single session.

Nearly 31 stocks ended with gains in the Nifty 50 index, with shares of JSW Steel, Tata Steel and Divi’s Laboratories ending as the top gainers while Eicher Motors, Titan and Nestle India ended as the top losers.

PSU Bank stocks rallied pushing the Nifty PSU index up by over a per cent.

Analysts believe that the current benign credit environment has supported asset quality of these banks, helping the stocks to rise.

Notably, the Bank of America (BofA) Securities is bullish on smaller PSU banks, citing better risk-reward on higher earnings growth and valuation upside.

As per the BofA Securities, consensus estimates for FY25 remain conservative for PSU banks, suggesting potential for EPS upgrades ranging from 10 to 20 per cent, driven by increased confidence in the consistency of earnings per share and Return on Assets (RoA) delivery, coupled with a rise in foreign ownership.

Notably, the PSU Bank index has risen 96 per cent in the past year and stocks such as Canara Bank and Union Bank of India soared over 100 per cent during the period. Bank of India shares have risen 80 per cent.

In this month, the investors await multiple events such as the RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting from April 3-5 and company updates for the Jan-Mar quarter ahead of the result season, foreign capital inflow, crude oil prices, amid other global cues.

Brokerage firm ICICI Direct believed that the Nifty 50 may continue to trade with a positive bias and immediate support for the index can be near 22,000.

The brokerage firm expects the index to endure its northbound journey and gradually head towards 22,700 in the coming weeks.

Benchmark Indices witnessed impressive gains in the last financial year (FY24). Experts are optimistic that these indices could continue to record robust growth in the new financial year, despite ongoing challenges.