Stock Market Today: Nifty Ends Just Shy Of Record High; Sensex Closes Above 72,650

The benchmark indices ended higher for the fifth straight session, with nifty NSE 50 hitting an all-time high on the intraday charts.

NIfty Pharma and Nifty FMCG sectors gained, while Nifty oil and gas, and NIfty PSU Banks stocks were under pressure on Monday.

The S&P BSE Sensex Index closed up 281.52points, or 0.39%, at 72,708.16, while the NSE Nifty 50 was 81.55 points or 0.37% higher at 22,122.25. Nifty 50 hit rose as much as 0.66% to hit an all time high of 22186.65, while BSE Sensex rose to a high of 0.63% on an intraday basis.

The index failed to sustain above the pivotal high of 21125 and pared 70 points from the day’s high in the final hour, according to Avdhut Bagkar Technical and Derivatives Analyst, StoxBox. "With this, the price action closed on an indecision note on a relatively lower volume."

On the global front, U.S. markets are shut for the Presidents’ Day holiday. Meanwhile, European stocks remained flat as investors awaited fresh catalysts after last week’s push close to a record high.

The broader markets ended higher on BSE. The S&P BSE Midcap gained 0.29%, and the S&P BSE Smallcap rose 0.77%.

On BSE, 17 out of 20 sectors rose, while three declined. The S&P BSE Consumer durables rose the most among sectoral indices. The S&P BSE Metal index fell 0.87% to become the worst performer.

ICICI Bank Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd., Bharti Airtel Ltd., ITC Ltd., and Grasim Industries Ltd. were positively adding to the change in the Nifty 50 Index.

Whereas, Larsen and Toubro Ltd., Coal India Ltd., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Axis Bank Ltd., and Wipro Ltd. were negatively contributing to the change.

The market breadth was skewed in the favour of buyers. About 2,264 stocks advanced, 1,601 declined, and 94 remained unchanged on the BSE.

"Traders are advised to hold their long position with a trailing stop loss for the above given targets. On the lower side, Nifty has a strong support at 21,900 levels," Deven Mehta, research analyst at Choice Equity Broking Pvt., said.

• Kotak Mahindra Bank had 12 lakh shares changed hands in a large trade.

• The lender's 0.1% equity changed hands at Rs 1,730.5 apiece.

• Buyers and sellers are not known immediately.

Source: Bloomberg

Shares of Titagarh Rail Systems jumped over 8% on Monday after the company bagged an order worth Rs 170 crore from Ministry of Defense.

The order is for manufacture and supply of 250 wagons to the Ministry of Defense.

Scrip of the company rose as much as 8.27% to Rs 1,037.00, their highest level since Feb 7. It was trading 4.20% higher at Rs 998.00 as of 2:17 p.m. This compares to 0.55% advance in the Nifty 50 index.

The scrip has gained 356.35% in 12 months. Total traded volume so far in the day stood at 2.0 times its 30-day average. The relative strength index was at 46.54.

Out of nine analysts tracking the company, eight maintain a 'buy' rating, one recommend a 'hold,' according to Bloomberg data. The average 12-month consensus price target implies an upside of 23.0%.