Sensex crosses 63,000, Nifty ends at a new high led by metal and auto

Sensex hit a new all-time high of 63,303.01 while the Nifty scaled its new peak of 18,816.05 in intraday trade. Both indices retreated slightly but ended at fresh closing peaks. Sensex closed at 63,100, a gain of 417 points. Meanwhile, Nifty ended with a gain of 140 points and closed at 18,758.

Metal, realty, FMCG and auto indices raced ahead in today’s trade and jumped more than a percent each, with almost all sectoral indices ending in the green. PSU Bank was the only index to end in red and shed 1% in today’s trade.

M&M, Hindalco Industries, Grasim Industries, Bajaj Auto and UltraTech Cement were among the top Nifty gainers. The losers included IndusInd Bank, SBI, HCL Technologies, ITC and Sun Pharma.

“Indian equity markets are cheering at their all-time highs, snubbing the volatility of global markets. The broader market is also trying to catch up momentum as Nifty midcap and smallcap indices are still well below this all time highs,” said Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart.

The gains were broad-based as the BSE Midcap index rose 1.06 percent while the Smallcap index rose 0.61 percent.

Out of 3,602 stocks trading on BSE, 2,058 advanced, while 1,438 stocks declined. 106 scrips remained unchanged. 

“The only concern is that the market is overbought, which may lead to some pullback or consolidation at higher levels, but there are no major signs of weakness. Technically, Nifty has immediate targets of 18888 and 19000, while on the downside, 18700 and 18500 will act as strong support levels,” Meena told Mint.

Asian stocks had a mixed day with investors awaiting US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech for policy clues, though hopes of China relaxing its Covid restrictions got stronger and brought some cheers.

Foreign investors are showing increased interest in India, as Asia’s third-largest economy ramps up its manufacturing capacity and improves infrastructure, said Santanu Sengupta, Chief India Economist at Goldman Sachs, Bloomberg reported earlier today.