Nifty ends at record 8,344; Sensex slips from high level

The 50-share NSE index Nifty today closed at all-time high of 8,344.25, while BSE benchmark Sensex set a fresh record of 28,027.96 points in early trade but failed to sustain the level and ended the day lower.
Brokers said cautious investors booked profits across counters as their hope of a rate cut has waned, pulling down the indices from their record high levels.
After opening on a strong note, the 30-share Sensex surged to hit new lifetime high of 28,027.96, surpassing the previous high of 28,010.39 recorded on November 5.
The index started losing momentum quickly and slipped into the negative territory to touch a low of 27,764.75 in volatile trade.

It finally ended the day at 27,874.73, 6.10 points higher than its previous close.
The 50-share Nifty closed moved up by 7.25 points, or 0.09 per cent, to close at all-time high of 8,344.25 after hitting life-time high of 8,383.05 intra-day.

"The markets were seen trading with the sideways bias for the fourth successive session and closed almost unchanged in the end.... Profit taking retraced the entire gain and pushed it into the red.
"It was seen as reaction to the statement made by the RBI Deputy Governor indicating negligible possibility of rate cut in the upcoming monetary policy (on December 2). However, recovery in the later half trimmed the intra-day losses and helped index to close flat," said Jayant Manglik, President, Retail Distribution, Religare Securities.

Market players said sentiment was upbeat in the morning on hopes that the government will accelerate economic reforms process after expansion of the Union Cabinet, lifting the Sensex and Nifty to new highs.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 2,537.13 crore, according to provisional data from the stock exchanges.
ITC at 4.27 per cent was the biggest Sensex gainer, followed by Sun Pharma 2.09 per cent, Tata Power 2.03 per cent, Dr Reddy's Lab 1.34 per cent, Coal India 1.32 per cent, HUL 1.28 per cent, HDFC 1.17 per cent, NTPC 1.14 per cent, Wipro 1.05 per cent and Hero Moto 1.02 per cent.

However, ONGC fell by 3.59 per cent, Hindalco 2.37 per cent, Tata Motors 2.26 per cent, Larsen 1.98 per cent, Axis Bank 1.83 per cent, Cipla 1.16 per cent, Reliance Ind 1.16 per cent and Icici Bank 1.10 per cent.