Sensex pares intra-day gains but settles at record high; PSU Banks lead

Nifty50 ends 1 point below its previous all-time closing high of 9,675.10 hit on June 5

Benchmark indices climbed off day's high in the last leg of trade but still settled higher with Sensex closing at record high and Nifty settling above 9,650 on the back of strong recovery in PSU banks. Hopes of positive quarterly earnings and -free roll-out of the goods and services tax (GST) also lifted sentiment.
 
On the contrary, most Asian stock markets fell on Thursday after minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting showed a lack of consensus on the future pace of US interest rate increases, while oil prices inched higher following a steep decline a day earlier.
 

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at new high of 31,369, up 124 points surpassing previous closing peak of 31,311.5, hit on June 19. Meanwhile, the broader Nifty50 ended 37 pomits higher at 9,674, 1 point below its previous all-time closing high of 9,675.10 hit on June 5.
 

S&P BSE Smallcap index hit a fresh record high 15,866.14 during the day. The index has already rallied over 30% so far in the year 2017 compared to near-18% rally seen in the S&P BSE Sensex. Both the smallcap and midcap indices erased some gains to ended the day 0.3% higher.
 

"Markets have again reached to the record high and banking holds the key for further up move else profit taking will resume. We're seeing limited participation at present and the difficulty would increase with every up tick. Thus traders should focus more on stock selection and prefer highly liquid counters," said Jayant Manglik, President, Retail Distribution, Religare Securities in a note.

Sectors and Stocks

SBI, ITC, Coal India, Bharti Airtel and Tata Motors gained the the most on BSE Sensex while Bajaj Auto, M&M, Axis Bank and Sun Pharma lost the most on the index.
 
IT, oil & gas and consumer durable declined in today's trade while banking, realty and FMCG contributed to the gains. IT sector fell in the late afternoon deals, down 0.3% with TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra falling between 0.2%-0.5%.

 
Nifty PSU Bank index rose 2.3% after brokerage houses upgraded leading PSUs Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank as valuations turned reasonable after recent correction on NPA concerns. The index advanced for a second session, with PNB, Canara Bank, SBI and IDFC Bank up between 1.5-5%.
 
Shares of Punjab National Bank jump 5% to post their biggest intraday percent gain since May 16 after Nomura upgraded the stock to 'Buy' from 'Neutral' on Wednesday while Bank of Baroda gained nearly 1%.
 
Tata Motors gained more than 1% on Jaguar Land Rover sales.
 
ITC, which was down in the last two sessions, rose nearly 2% after it reduces prices of its FMCG products passing on GST benefits to its consumers.

 
Global Markets
 
Trading in Asia has been buffeted this week by tensions on the Korean peninsula after North Korea fired a missile, which US officials concluded was an intercontinental ballistic missile, into Japanese waters. The lack of consensus in deciding future of interest rates by US Fed, also dragged the sentiment.
 
Markets in Europe moved lower on Thursday morning as investors digested the minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting and monitored geopolitical events.The pan-European Stoxx 600 was 0.22% lower with most sectors trading in negative ground. CAC, DAX and FTSE were also trading lower.
 
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.1%. Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.5% as a stronger yen depressed the outlook for export earnings.

 
South Korea's KOSPI and Australian shares both lost 0.1%. China's bluechip CSI 300 index fell 0.5% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 0.3%.