The sensex jumped 351 points or 0.5% to settle at an all-time high of 74,228. During the day, the index oscillated between the high of 74,502 and the low of 73,485.The broader Nifty also hit its fresh peak of 22,515, gaining 80 points or 0.4%. As many as 31 components of the 50-share benchmark ended with gains. Both indices had ended lower in the previous two sessions. Sensex had recorded its previous peak of 74,119 on March 7. Nifty scaled its previous high of 22,494.
Investors lapped up select banking stocks expecting a status quo in the interest rate decision of RBI’s monetary policy committee, analysts said. The six-member rate-setting panel, which began deliberations on Wednesday, will announce the decision on Friday.
“Market breadth displayed a positive trend within a narrow trading range, with attention focused on RBI’s upcoming monetary policy announcement tomorrow. Expectations lean towards the likely status quo in the repo rate due to prevalent inflation worries,” said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services. The broader market has shown resilience in select sectors like banking in anticipation of decent Q4 results and exports based on composite PMI data reflecting strong business conditions, he added.
Among the sensex constituents, 20 stocks ended the session in the green, with HDFC Bank, Titan, Tech Mahindra, and Asian Paints being the major gainers. TCS, Maruti, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bajaj Finserv were the other gainers. In contrast, SBI, Bharti Airtel, JSW Steel, PowerGrid, ITC and Reliance closed the day with losses.
Among sectoral indices, IT rose 0.9%, followed by consumer durables which went up nearly the same percent. While utilities gained by 0.8%, financial services climbed by 0.7%. Bankex, tech and auto advanced 0.6%, 0.5% and 0.3%, respectively. On the other hand, oil & gas lost 1.6%, energy fell 1% and services declined by 0.6%. Agencies
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