The benchmark equity indices continued their record breaking spree on Wednesday even as most of the mid caps and small caps continued to lose ground.
The 30-share Sensex gained 221.76 points, or 0.59%, to close at a new high of 37,887.56. The gains were led by index heavyweights Reliance Industries and ONGC, with both gaining almost 3% each. The banking majors like ICICI Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Yes Bank also supported the Sensex rally.
The broader Nifty closed at a new high of 11,450, up 60.55 points, or 0.53%.
The broader market trend, however, remained weak as the sell-off in the side counters continued unabated.
On the BSE, more than 1,400 stocks ended in the red as against 1,296 gainers.
Market participants are of the view that while the sell-off in the mid cap and small cap space is not yet over, the sentiment is expected to improve slightly as the results season progresses.
“We see the momentum shifting to mid caps and small caps sectors as lot of quarterly results are awaited, which will give insights on the current year earnings.” said B. Gopkumar, CEO, Reliance Securities. He added that going ahead, there could be some consolidation with the benchmarks gaining nearly 7% in the last five weeks.
Both the BSE mid cap and BSE small cap indices, along with all the other broader indices, just about managed to post marginal gains on Wednesday.