Sensex, Nifty End Near Record High; Banking Stocks Outperform

Indian equities extended Monday's gains to close near their respective all-time highs as buying momentum was witnessed across the board.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended 2.5% higher at 49,797. The index briefly traded above the mark of 50,000, coming within 30 points of its all-time high of 50,184, before some profit booking was witnessed at higher levels.

The NSE Nifty 50 index also came within 20 points of its record high of 14,754, ending 2.6% higher at 14,647.

Among the sectoral indics, the Nifty Bank index hit yet another record high in today's session, ending 3.6% higher at 34,267. The Nifty Auto index was the outperformer in today's session, ending with gains of 4%.

Indices like the Nifty Media, Nifty Realty and the PSU Bank index also saw gains of over 3%. Gains on the PSU Bank index were led by State Bank of India while Zee Entertainment and Sun TV shouldered the gains on the Media index.

The FMCG index was the only underperformer in today's session, ending little changed.

Broader markets ended higher but gains were modest for the Small caps as compared to the benchmark indices. The Nifty Midcap index ended 2.4% higher while the Smallcap index ended with gains of 1.2%.

The India Volatility Index ended little changed at 23.35.

1,242 stocks on the NSE ended with gains while 681 stocks ended lower.