Bankex, Auto, Pharma, IT index hit new highs

Kotak Mahindra Bank, YES Bank, Maruti Suzuki India, M&M Sun Pharma, Ranbaxy, Lupin and Cipla hits lifetime highs.

The rally in equity markets has seen four of the 12 sectoral indices reached their all-time highs in the early trade on Monday on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Witnessing a smart move at the start of the session, Bankex, Healthcare, Information Technology (IT) and Auto indices touched their respective lifetime highs on BSE.

Markets are trading firm after Nifty touched 7,958 levels in the early trades and Sensex touched 26,591 mark led by gains in select financials and IT major TCS contributing the most to the rise on the benchmark indices.  At 11 AM, the 30-share Sensex is up 165 points at 26, 584 and the 50-share Nifty is up 37 points at 7,951.

The market sentiment was boosted by a strong buying by the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) as well as domestic mutual funds (MF). So far in August, FIIs and MF have made net investments of Rs 9,000 crore in equity market, Sebi data shows.

Analyst at Nirmal Bang Retail Research  says, with an eye on festive demand, corporates are gearing up to spend about 25-30% more this year on advertising and firms selling consumer durables, electronics and automobiles are expected to take lead in the busy season that starts with Navratras, quoting Assocham Survey .

Kotak Mahindra Bank and YES Bank from banking, Maruti Suzuki India and Mahindra and Mahindra from automobiles, Sun Pharma, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Lupin, Cipla, Cadila Healthcare and Divi’s Laboratories from healthcare indices hits lifetime highs today.

Going forward, with a stable government in place, industrial capex is expected to see a modest pickup, supporting credit growth. Moreover, for banking sector asset quality concerns are likely to ease ahead as revival in economic activity boosts cash flows, says analyst.