There was no looking back for the bulls as they pushed the benchmark indices further higher on Wednesday, breaching the psychologically important mark of 54,000 for the BSE Sensex and 16,200 for Nifty50. Banks and financials were the star performers behind today's gain as a strong show by SBI in Q1 powered the sector.
Signs of macroeconomic recovery and firm global market mood were among the major factors that aided indices' rise to record highs. BSE Sensex closed at a fresh peak of 54,370, up 546 points or 1.02 per cent after scaling an all-time high of 54,465.91 in trade. Meanwhile, NSE's Nifty50 hit a new high of 16,290.20 to end the session 128 points or 0.79 per cent higher at 16,259.
In spite of indices being at record high levels, losers outpaced gainers on both Sensex and Nifty. Even, the overall market breadth favoured sellers as investors booked profit in the midcap and smallcap players.
Both BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap ended over 1 per cent lower after scaling fresh peaks in the morning session.
Sectorally, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Bank were the top performers, up over 2 per cent each. Nifty Realty meanwhile snapped its 4-day winning streak and ended 1.7 per cent down to emerge the worst loser.
In stock-specific action, the shares of Vodafone Idea continued to see hefty selling, so much so, that it declined 18.5 per cent to Rs 6.03 on the BSE. The shares took a beating after Vodafone Group Plc ruled out any further equity infusion in its debt-ridden telecom joint venture in India and promoter Kumar Mangalam Birla offered his stake in the company to the government.
On the other hand, SBI investors rejoiced after the lender posted its highest ever quarterly profit at Rs 6,504 crore in Q1, up 55 per cent YoY. The stock hit a new high of Rs 467.30 on the NSE and ended the day at Rs 457.05, up 2 per cent.
Meanwhile, Adani Green Energy also put up an impressive show in Q1 as its profit swelled by 10 times to Rs 219 crore for the June quarter but the shares still ended 1.50 per cent lower at Rs 694.60.
Titan shares declined over 2 per cent ahead of the Q1 earnings to Rs 1799.80 on the BSE to emerge as the worst-performing Sensex stock.
The primary market, meanwhile, remained abuzz. All four IPOs that opened for subscription got fully subscribed on Day 1 itself thanks to the retail frenzy in IPO mart. Exxaro Tiles was the most subscribed at nearly 4 times, followed by Windlas Biotech and Devyani International that received nearly 3 times bids. Krsnaa Diagnostics was subscribed over 1.7 times.
Lastly, on the macroeconomic front, India's Services PMI for July contracted for the third month in a row but analysts found a silver lining as the pace of contraction slowed. Services PMI rose from 41.2 in June to 45.4 in July. In Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) parlance, a print above 50 means expansion, while a score below 50 denotes contraction.
Going into trade on Thursday, it remains to be seen if profit booking ensues at higher levels after two days of stellar gains or if bulls hold their mettle. That said, volatility could remain high on account of the weekly F&O expiry. Further, Q1 earnings will remain in focus as over 100 companies, including Adani Power, NCC, GAIL, Tata Chemicals, Cipla, Quess Corp, Indiabulls Housing Finance and Gujarat Gas are slated to post their results. The action will remain high in the primary market with four IPOs open for subscription.
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