Nifty scaled a fresh record high in early trade today led by gains in metal and banking stocks. The 50-stock index rose 118 points to hit an all time high of 15,455 against previous close of Rs 15,337. Sensex gained 362 points to 51,477 against previous close of 51,115.
The rise in benchmark indices comes amid the daily number of Covid-19 cases falling to 1.86 lakh, the lowest in 44 days.
Sensex and Nifty scaled record highs of 52,516 and 15,431 on February 16 this year led by extension of gains after investors cheered Union Budget on February 1.
On Nifty today, top gainers were Tata Steel, Eicher Motors, JSW Steel, ONGC and Hindalco rising up to 3.21%. Top Nifty losers were Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's, Wipro, M&M and SBI Life falling up to 2.75%.
Of 50 Nifty stocks, 34 were trading in green. Bank Nifty rose 341 points to 35,436 against previous close of 35,095.
Nifty metal index gained 145 points to 5,188 against previous close of 5,043.
Stocks in news: Sun Pharma, TCS, Eicher Motors, UCO Bank and more
V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services said,"The best news for the economy and markets is coming from the Covid data which has shown a dip in fresh cases to 1.75 lakhs during the last 24 hours. This will certainly pave the way for the progressive removal of restrictions on economic activity. The global cues are positive with the US economy showing rise in jobs indicating sharp economic recovery.
An important trend in the market is the outperformance of midcaps (up around 24% YTD) vis-a-vis the Nifty ( up around 10% YTD). Weakness in frontline private banking stocks may be used to accumulate them since these well-capitalised banks will continue to grab market share from the weaker players, particularly from weak PSU banks"
On Sensex, top gainers were RIL, ONGC , Kotak Bank and HDFC rising up to 3.38%. Of 30 Sensex stocks, 16 were trading in green.
On the other hand, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's, M&M and Titan were the top losers falling up to 3.50%. Market breadth was positive with 1,519 shares closing higher against 1,217 ending in red.
Market cap of BSE-listed firms rose to a record high of Rs 221.85 lakh crore. BSE mid cap and small cap indices rose 64.79 points and 57.22 points, respectively.
Metal stocks led the gains with BSE metal index rising 444 points to 18,818. BSE bankex rose 241 points to 40,098.