Sensex, Nifty set fresh highs on festive mood
Nifty closes shy of 18k; Banking, auto, consumer durables stocks propel indices
Profit booking, global cues subdue equities; realty stocks fall
-Sensex up 148.53 pts to 60,284.31
-Nifty rises 46 pts to 17,991.95
-Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul in red
Mumbai: Rising for the fourth straight session, equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty marked their new closing highs on Tuesday due to participants' continued buying interest in banking, consumer durables and auto stocks. After a volatile trading session, the 30-share Sensex ended 148.53 points or 0.25 per cent higher at 60,284.31. Intraday, the index swung between a high of 60,332 and a low of 59,885. Likewise, the Nifty rose 46 points or 0.26 per cent to its fresh closing peak of 17,991.95.
"The day witnessed hectic activity in PSU banking space with stocks from two-wheelers and consumer durables seeing good demand in line with the festive mood. While we did see a continuation of profit booking in IT names, the small and midcap space was buzzing with accumulation across sectors. A late surge in the metal Index led by aluminium stocks lent support to the rally," said S Ranganathan, head (research) at LKP securities.
Titan was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying over 5 per cent, followed by Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Finserv, SBI, Nestle India, ITC, Axis Bank and Tata Steel. On the other hand, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, TCS and Sun Pharma were among the laggards. In the past four sessions, the Sensex has added about 1,095 points or 1.84 per cent; and the Nifty has gathered 345 points or 1.95 per cent. Sectorally, BSE consumer durables, FMCG, metal, auto, realty and power indices rose up to 2.78 per cent on Tuesday. While IT, telecom, teck, utilities and healthcare indices ended in the red. Broader midcap and smallcap indices advanced up to 0.65 per cent.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market on Monday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,303.22 crore, as per exchange data. Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul ended with losses. Stock exchanges in Europe were also trading on a negative note in early deals.
