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Benchmark indices are trading on a firm note and have touched fresh all-time highs boosted by strong buying in financials select capital goods and auto stocks.
At 10:08AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 131 points at 28,915 and the 50-share Nifty was up 31 points at 8,727.
The Sensex has touched its new all-time high level of 28,953 and Nifty has hit its fresh record-high level of 8,740.50 in today’s session.
In the broader market, both the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices have performed better than the front-liners with gains of 0.4% and 0.5% each. Market breadth in BSE is positive with 1,226 advances against 702 declines.
Yesterday, a strong rally in financials, metals and index heavyweights saw the benchmark indices touching their life-time highs with the Nifty crossing the mark of 8,700 for the first time. In the BSE, 199 stocks either hit new 52 week or all-time highs.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in equities to the tune of Rs 1,276 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
Buzzing Stocks
9 out of the 12 sectoral indices of BSE are in green. BSE Bankex has gained over 1% and is the top gainer followed by BSE Capital Goods index, up 0.8%. BSE Oil & Gas index is down 0.3% and BSE Healthcare index has shed 0.1%.
Financials are leading the gains in today’s session. Mortgage lender, HDFC and public-sector lender SBI have gained over 2% each, Axis Bank is up 0.2% after trimming early gains and ICICI Bank is up 0.6%.
Metal stocks are under pressure and have pared their early gains. Hindalco has declined around 0.3%, Tata Steel is down 0.18% while Sesa Sterlite is down over 2%.
Among index heavyweights, ITC is trading lower by 1% ahead of its quarterly results to be announced later today. Infosys is trading higher by 0.6%.
Capital Goods stocks are trading firm. L&T has gained over 1% while BHEL is down 0.4% paring early gains.
Auto stocks are trading mixed. Maruti Suzuki has gained over 2%. According to media reports, the company is set to launch multiple products in the New Year. M&M and Bajaj Auto have gained around 1% each. Tata Motors has declined over 1%.
Among other shares, Navin Fluorine International has surged 16% to Rs 760 on BSE in early morning trade after its net profit more than doubled to Rs 14.20 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 2014 (Q3), on back of strong operational income.
