Sensex, Nifty Surge To Record Highs On Hopes Of Faster Economic Recovery

The Indian equity benchmarks surged to record highs on Tuesday on hopes of faster pace of economic recovery as various macro-economic indicators pointed towards demand revival in the economy. The country's factory activity bounced back last month and GST collections jumped 33 per cent to Rs 1.16 lakh crore in July, indicating demand revival in an economy hit hard by the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic. Better than expected corporate earnings in June quarter also added to the bullish investors' sentiment. The Sensex surged as much as 937 points to hit an all-time high of 53,887.98 and Nifty 50 index climbed as much as 262 points to hit record high of 16,146.90.

The Nifty 50 index climbed 245.60 points or 1.55 per cent to close at an all-time high of 16,130.75 and Sensex surged 872.73 points or 1.65 per cent to settle at record high of 53,823.36.

"Pace of vaccination is giving hopes that the economy can open up faster than anticipated. Tax efficiency has improved drastically, fuel sales have been good in July despite high prices and corporate results have also been surprising the market which is helping the markets scale new highs," AK Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital told NDTV.

"The Nifty witnessed some strong trends and after overcoming the resistance level of 16,000. While sustaining above 16,000 is the key factor from a short-term perspective, maintaining above this level is important for Nifty to gain momentum and extend the rally up to 16,200," Ashis Biswas, Head of Technical Research at CapitalVia Global Research said.

HDFC, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever and Reliance Industries were among the top movers in the Sensex.

Buying was visible across sectors as nine of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty FMCG index's nearly 2 per cent gain. Nifty Auto, Bank, Financial Services, IT, Pharma, PSU Bank indices also rose 1.2-1.5 per cent.

On the other hand, media and metal indices ended lower.

Mid- and small-cap shares underperformed their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 index ended unchanged while Nifty Smallcap 100 index slipped 0.2 per cent.

Tian was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 4 per cent to close at Rs 1,842. HDFC, IndusInd Bank, Nestle India, UltraTech Cement, State Bank of India, Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank and Bharti Airtel also rose between 2-3.8 per cent.

On the flipside, JSW Steel, Shree Cements, Bajaj Auto, UPL, Tata Steel, NTPC and Grasim were among the notable losers.

The overall market breadth was marginally positive as 1,740 shares ended higher while 1,505 closed lower on the BSE.