Sensex, Nifty end at record high for third day on global leads
The benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex built on gains to close at record high for a third straight session on Tuesday riding on smart jump in Coal India Ltd, Reliance Industries Ltd and ITC Ltd amid positive leads from global markets.
Extending the record run for third day, the 30-share Sensex closed at fresh life high of 34,443.19, eking out gains of 90.40 points, or 0.26%, after a choppy trade. The wide-based Nifty of National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) also settled at record high of 10,637, 13.40 points, or 0.13%, even as 19 of its constituents advanced and 31 dropped. Caution prevailed as crude prices surged to the highest level since 2015.
“With indices hitting record peaks on successive days, caution dominated the day’s proceedings, especially with midcaps pulling back from day’s peaks. Investors are likely to remain focused on stock specific moves eyeing the prospects of earnings season and mixing and matching various elements of the upcoming Union Budget,” Anand James, chief market strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said.
Opening higher, the 30-share Sensex quickly rallied to an alltime intra-day high of 34,488.03 as Coal India, ITC and Tata Motors posted smart gains. Profit booking in some pharma, capital goods and telecom stocks at record levels, however, pulled the index to a low of 34,343.41 before close. The index has risen by 559.41 points in the previous three straight sessions.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have been supporting the ongoing rally by pumping in
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sizeable capital, brokers said. “Sustained foreign inflows and optimism ahead of October-December 2017 earnings and the Union Budget 2018 aided gains,” Karthikraj Lakshmanan, senior fund manager — Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund, said. Signs of easing geo-political tensions buoyed investor sentiment globally, he added.
Asian markets, which have seen their best start since 2006, gained with Hong Kong recording 11 straight wins and Tokyo at a 26-year high, as investors press on with a global rally. Back home, Coal India was the biggest gainer on both Sensex and Nifty components after its board approved a hike in prices of noncoking coal for power and nonpower sectors with immediate effect.
Coal India rose 5.76% on NSE and 5.63% on BSE, followed by Yes Bank by 2.31%. Other prominent gainers were Wipro, ITC Ltd, Reliance Industries, Asian Paints, Tata Motors, Infosys, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank and M&M, surging by up to 2.11%. In contrast, Bharti Airtel, Adani Ports, Hero MotoCorp, Sun Pharma, NTPC, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki, ICICI Bank, SBI, Hind Unilever, L&T, Dr Reddy’s, Power Grid, HDFC Ltd, TCS, ONGC and Axis Bank fell by up to 1.18% largely on profit-booking and squeezed the rise in the key indices.