Nifty breaches 5,400 after 29 months

The National Stock Exchange’s benchmark index, the Nifty, crossed the 5,400-mark for the first time in more than 29 months on Monday on expectations of good corporate earnings, but pared some of the gains due to lower-than-expected industrial output data for May.

The 50-stock index extended its three-day winning streak to close at 5,385.00, up 0.57 per cent, or 30.55 points. It had opened nearly 50 points higher at 5,352.25 and touched a high of 5,402.70 during the day’s trade.

On the BSE, the 30-stock Sensex also breached the 18,000-level for the first time in more than three months. It also gave up some of the early gains post industrial output data to close up 103.66 points, or 0.58 per cent, at 17,937.20.

“Based on fundamentals, almost all positives are priced in at present levels. The only factor which can drive the market further is robust FII inflows,” said U R Bhat, managing director at Dalton Capital Advisors (India).

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were major buyers of Indian shares on Monday. They bought shares worth Rs 1,001.75 crore in the cash market, provisional data available on the BSE website showed. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) sold shares to the tune of Rs 293.05 crore.

FIIs have bought shares worth about $8 billion (Rs 36,233.20 crore) in this year so far, as per Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) data.

Among the Sensex stocks, realty major DLF gained the most, rising by 2.38 per cent to Rs 302.75. Others such as Tata Motors, Wipro, Bhel, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank also gained more than 2 per cent.

Among the losers were Reliance Infrastructure, which slipped by 1.91 per cent to Rs 1,150.25, and Hero Honda, which lost 1.55 per cent at Rs 1,978.80 on the BSE.

“There is lot of stock specific actions happening which gives more confidence,” said Deven Choksey, managing director at Mumbai-based KR Choksey Securities. According to him, the next target level for Nifty is 5,450; whereas the support is seen at 5,310.

Among the sectoral indices, the BSE Realty index was the major gainer on Monday with a rise of 2.24 per cent.

Market breadth was slightly positive with 1,567 stocks advancing as against a decline in 1,320 stocks on the BSE.