MUMBAI: The NSE benchmark index breached the historic 10,000-mark during early morning trade on Tuesday. Unlike its peer BSE, the top brass at NSE didn’t cut a cake though, as the index lost some of its pop soon, with the 50-share Nifty index closing negative. The Sensex, too, pared losses after investors booked profits in recent gainers.
A slew of things added to the Nifty’s all-time high of 10,011.30 points. Better-than-expected quarterly earnings, led by a sharp rally from blue chips like Reliance Industries and ITC, availability of liquidity, both foreign and domestic capital, favourable monsoon, and anticipated rate cuts as early as next week. Adding to the fizz are a string of economic measures like demonetisation, GST, and tightening of tax compliance all strengthening the confidence of investors in Indian markets.
“It is an affirmation of the strength of Indian economy,” said Arun Thukral, managing director and CEO, Axis Securities. But, a wave of profit-booking dragged the gauge down by 1.85 points, or 0.02 per cent, to settle at 9,964.55. The flagship Sensex climbed to a life-high of 32,374.30 before closing down 17.60 points, or 0.05 per cent, at 32,228.27.
“However, profit booking at higher levels pulled the market to mild corrections due to psychological effect, muted Q1 results for midcaps and awaiting Fed monetary policy meet,” said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services.
Participants also looked up to US Federal Reserve policy meeting later on Tuesday. Key indices in the Asian region lay low. Major losers include Lupin (1.9 per cent), along with Tata Motors, Coal India and Sun Pharma. Asian Paints fell 0.35 per cent after the company reported a 20.23 per cent decline in consolidated net profit for the first quarter.
Airtel surged 1.76 per cent after reports of the government considering giving telcos more time to pay for the spectrum they bought, to ease sectoral stress. Axis Bank, too, rose 1.94 per cent, TCS up 1.50 per cent and Tata Steel 1.03 per cent.
Domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 668.87 crore while FIIs sold shares of Rs 366.84 crore on Monday. The capital goods index fell the most. Auto, healthcare and FMCG too weighed. Sectoral indices such as metal, realty and banking finished higher. Broader markets—the midcap and smallcap indices—outperformed.