Nifty, Sensex Off Record Highs As IT Stocks, HDFC Bank Weigh: Midday Market Update

The benchmark stock indices came off their record high levels through midday on Monday as shares of HDFC Bank Ltd. and information technology stocks weighed on them. At 11:56 a.m., the Nifty traded 57 points or 0.24% up at 23,347.15, while the Sensex was up 87.73 points or 0.11% at 76,781.09.

During the day, the Nifty hit its record high of 23,411.90 points and the Sensex also hit a record high of 77,079.04.

"Things seem to have settled down from a highly volatile market last week," Ajith Rambhia, proprietor at Ajira Capital Services said, pointing out that the market players would try to align themselves with the outcome of the election.

Traders should focus on stock-specific action as multiple sector rotations are being seen in the last couple of sessions. He recommends adopting a buy-on-dip approach.

Shares of Infosys Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. and Tech Mahindra Ltd. weighed on the Nifty.

Reliance Industries Ltd., Axis Bank Ltd., UltraTech Cement Ltd., Larsen & Toubro Ltd., and Power Grid Corp. cushioned the fall.

All sectoral indices on the NSE rose, except Nifty IT. Nifty Media rose the most.

The broader indices outperformed as the benchmarks as the BSE MidCap was trading 0.62% higher and the SmallCap rose 1.21%.

Except BSE Information Technology and Teck, 18 sectoral indices on the BSE rose, with Services advancing the most.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of the buyers as 2,676 stocks rose, 1,131 fell and 158 remained unchanged on the BSE.