Sensex settles at fresh life-time high; Nifty ekes out marginal gains

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Equity benchmark indices ended the trade in the positive territory on Wednesday, with the BSE Sensex closing at its fresh life-time high of 61,980.72, helped by buying in banking counters.

After facing highs and lows during the day, the 30-share BSE Sensex finally ended 107.73 points or 0.17 per cent higher at 61,980.72. During the day, the index hit its 52-week high of 62,052.57, higher by 179.58 points.

The broader NSE Nifty ended marginally higher by 6.25 points or 0.03 per cent to 18,409.65.

From the Sensex pack, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Dr Reddy’s, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, HDFC and Tata Consultancy Services were among the major winners.

Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, NTPC, Bajaj Finserv, UltraTech Cement and IndusInd Bank were among the major laggards.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled lower, while Tokyo ended higher.

Equity exchanges in Europe were trading mostly lower in the afternoon session. Wall Street had ended in the positive territory on Tuesday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.28 per cent higher at USD 94.12 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 221.32 crore on Tuesday, as per exchange data.

“As the domestic market has started to trade around the all-time high levels, it is trending indecisively following the recent geopolitical tensions and weak performance by global counterparts. Although domestic macroeconomic indicators and FII inflows are favourable, given the high valuations, domestic markets can behave cautious in the short to medium-term,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge declined 0.66 per cent and smallcap index dipped 0.34 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, bankex climbed 0.47 per cent, industrials advanced 0.37 per cent, capital goods 0.36 per cent, teck 0.30 per cent, and IT 0.20 per cent.

However, metal declined 1.49 per cent, utilities fell 1.40 per cent, power 1.27 per cent, services 1.02 per cent, and commodities 1.08 per cent.

“Markets moved in a narrow range with bouts of sideways movement in intra-day trades, but selective buying in late trades helped key indices to end in positive territory. The lacklustre trend was visible across the Asian and European markets, which prompted local traders to trade cautiously.

“After last week’s spectacular rally, investors are in no hurry to lap up stocks despite some tailwinds in the domestic economy,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.