Sensex rises 248 points to close at lifetime high; Nifty nears its peak

BSE benchmark Sensex climbed 248 points to close at its all-time high of 61,872 on Tuesday, propped up by robust fag-end buying in banking and energy stocks amid a positive trend in global equities.

A strengthening rupee, encouraging domestic inflation data and unabated foreign capital inflows further bolstered sentiment, traders said.

After a see-saw session, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose 248.84 points or 0.40 per cent to settle at 61,872.99 — surpassing its previous closing peak of 61,795.04 on November 11. During the day, the index witnessed a high of 61,955.96 — its 52-week intraday high— and a low of 61,436.90. 

The broader NSE Nifty advanced 74.25 points or 0.41 per cent to finish at 18,403.40.
 

"Following gains in global equities, early losses in the domestic market were reversed, with banking stocks steering the recovery. Food and commodity price declines have helped to keep domestic inflation below 7 per cent.

"Although the CPI has continued to remain above the RBI's tolerance limit of 6 per cent, it is estimated that it will begin to fall within the range from Q1 FY24," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. PowerGrid topped the Sensex gainers' chart, rising 2.20 per cent, followed by ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, UltraTech Cement, SBI, Dr Reddy's, Titan, M&M and HDFC Twins.

In contrast, Bajaj Finserv, ITC, Reliance, Sun Pharma and Nestle India were among the laggards, shedding up to 0.76 per cent.In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.08 per cent and smallcap index ended marginally higher by 0.01 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, oil & gas climbed 0.99 per cent, telecommunication jumped 0.79 per cent, auto (0.75 per cent), bankex (0.70 per cent) and utilities (0.53 per cent).

FMCG, industrials, capital goods, metal and realty were among the laggards.

"The Bank Nifty bulls came back strong in the last half an hour of the session which scales the index to its new 52-week high level. The momentum, going forward, continues to remain strong, and the index is likely to test the level of 43000-44000 on the upside," Kunal Shah - Senior Technical and Derivative Analyst at LKP Securities, said.

Indicating easing of the price situation, retail inflation moderated to 6.7 per cent in October while the wholesale price index fell to a 19-month low mainly on account of subdued rates of food items.

The fall in consumer price index-based retail inflation to 6.77 per cent in October from 7.41 per cent in September has also brought some relief for the Reserve Bank which has been struggling to bring it below the upper tolerance level of 6 per cent since January this year.

"Rally gathered pace towards the closing hours after trading range-bound for a major part of the trading session. The majority of the European and Asian indices logged gains, which had a rub-off effect on the local benchmarks. Sharp fall in crude oil prices and the strengthening rupee against the dollar boosted investors' confidence.

"With domestic inflation showing signs of cooling, traders are hoping that the RBI in next month's policy meeting may take a dovish stance in its rate-setting decision," Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd, said.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended with significant gains.

Asian markets made strong gains after Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden signalled a desire to improve ties at a meeting on Monday ahead of the G20 summit in Indonesia, and Beijing moved to ease some pandemic curbs, Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said.

Equity exchanges in Europe were trading in the positive territory in the afternoon session. Wall Street ended in negative territory on Monday.

The rupee appreciated by 17 paise to close at 81.11 (provisional) against the US dollar on Tuesday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 1.62 per cent lower at USD 91.63 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained net buyers on Monday as they bought shares worth Rs 1,089.41 crore, as per exchange data.

India's exports contracted by 16.65 per cent to USD 29.78 billion in October 2022 compared to the year-ago period, according to data released by the commerce ministry on Tuesday.

Imports during the month under review increased to USD 56.69 billion as against USD 53.64 billion in October 2021.