Market pares some gains after hitting record high; Nifty holds above 9,450

The benchmark indices extended gains to trade at  record highs on Tuesday tracking mixed trend seen in Asian markets and record closing on Wall Street. 

The 30-share Sensex rose as much as 196 points to notch its fresh high of 30,518, while the 50-share Nifty rallied 47 points to its lifetime high of 9,492. Last time, both the indices had hit their record highs on May 11.

At 12:02 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 30,424, up 103 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 9,467, up 21 points. 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap index and the S&P BSE Smallcap index added 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively. 

"Going ahead, it would merely be a formality to hit new record highs. We continue with optimistic stance on the market and expect projected level of 9,600 (target of ‘Bullish Flag’ pattern) quite soon. For the coming session, the support zone of 9,400-9,377 remains unchanged," said brokerage Angel Broking.

Sectors and stocks

Telecom stocks were hogging the limelight with BSE Telecom index (up 2%) being the leading sectoral gainer. Vindhya Telelinks (up 5%), Bharti Airtel (up 2%) and Bharti Infratel (up 2%) gained the most on the index. 

Bharti Airtel was also the best performer among Sensex and Nifty stocks. 

Munjal Auto Industries surged 10% to Rs 110 after the company announced the board will consider bonus issue proposal in its meeting held on Monday, May 22.

Chennai Petroleum Corporation (CPCL) dipped 6% to Rs 393 in intra-day trade after the company reported 31% year on year (YoY) declined in net profit at Rs 171 crore for the quarter ended March 2017 (Q4FY17). The company engaged in petroleum sector had profit of Rs 248 crore in a year ago quarter.

Oil prices rise

Oil prices jumped 2% to its highest in more than three weeks on Monday, briefly topping $52 a barrel after Saudi Arabia and Russia said that supply cuts need to last into 2018, a step towards extending an OPEC-led deal to support prices for longer than first agreed.

Global benchmark Brent crude settled up 98 cents, or 1.9% at $51.82 a barrel, having touched $52.63, the highest since April 21.

It has gained nearly 9% over the last week though some analysts were sceptical about the durability of the rally despite the proposed supply curbs.

Global markets

Asian markets were trading mixed following the bounce in oil prices. The Japan's Nikkei 225 turned flat after gaining 0.5%, its highest levels since December 2015. The Kospi added 0.3%, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index and China's Shanghai Composite were down 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notched record closing highs on Monday powered by demand for technology stocks after a global cyber attack and by rising oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 85.33 points, or 0.4% to 20,981.94, the S&P 500 gained 11.42 points, or 0.5% to 2,402.32 and the Nasdaq Composite added 28.44 points, or 0.5% to 6,149.67.

(With inputs from Reuters)