Nifty, Sensex Trade Near Record As Airtel, ICICI Bank Lead: Midday Market Update

The Indian benchmark indices were trading near record high through midday on Tuesday, tracking gains in shares of Bharti Airtel Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd.

As of 12:15 p.m., the NSE Nifty 50 was trading 54.05 points or 0.22% higher at 24,640.75, and the S&P BSE Sensex was 153.47 points or 0.19% up at 80,818.33.

Intraday, the Nifty rose 0.30% to a fresh high of 24,661.25 and the Sensex rose 0.29% to an all-time high of 80,898.30.

The Nifty has been on a tearaway run and seeing a wait-and-watch kind of trade. The bias remains on the upside as any dip to 24,400, 24,000 can be used to take long positions, according to Amit Goel, research analyst at Amit Ventures.

The Nifty Bank has been a little weaker on account of HDFC Bank Ltd.'s underperformance. It has taken support at a lower level and is showing some positive traction, he said.

Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever Ltd., Coal India Ltd. and Infosys Ltd. led the gains in the Nifty.

Reliance Industries Ltd., Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., UltraTech Cement Ltd., Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. and Axis Bank Ltd. weighed on the index.

Most sectors on the NSE advanced, with the Nifty Realty rising the most and Pharma declining the most. Earlier in the day, the Oil & Gas, Energy and FMCG indices scaled fresh highs.

The BSE MidCap was trading 0.18% up and the SmallCap was 0.81% higher.

Seventeen out of the 20 sectors on the BSE advanced, with Telecommunication rising the most and Bankex declining the most.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of the buyers as 2,315 stocks rose, 1,411 declined and 151 stocks remained unchanged on the BSE.