The Indian equity benchmark indices closed flat Monday but managed to scale record highs, amid volatility as IT stocks dragged while autos, banks, and Reliance Industries lend support to the indices.
Among the 50 stocks on Maruti Suzuki, M&M, Tata Motors, Hero MotorCorp, and ONGC lead the gains, as each scrip rose over 2.5 to 6.5 percent higher. Leading the losses were HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Divi’s Lab, and Bajaj Finserv. Five Nifty stocks hit record highs in today’s session, with Reliance Industries shares surging to boost its market cap to Rs 17 lakh crores. Maruti gained over 6 percent during the session to clock the biggest one-day gain since December 2020.
Among sectors on NSE, a strong rally was seen in auto, media, realty indices, whereas financial services, metal, and private banks closed flat. Nifty Bank rose 340 points to close at a record closing high of 38,171.
Nifty IT witnessed selling as the index slipped nearly 3 percent. Nifty FMCG, Pharma, and healthcare index were down almost 1 percent.
Globally, shares rose led by sharp gains in energy shares as crude oil prices soared to three-year highs of almost $80 a barrel. European stocks, however, firmed after Germany’s election results ruled out chances of a purely left-wing coalition.
Wall Street was also tipped for a firmer session on Monday, with S&P 500 futures up 0.3 percent. Stock markets benefited too from an ostensible easing in Sino-U.S. tensions and Chinese authorities’ decision to pump more cash into financial markets to potentially offset the fallout from embattled real estate firm China Evergrande Group.
Over in commodities, gold prices firmed propped up by a subdued dollar and slight retreat in the US Treasury yields, with investors gearing up for speeches from Fed policymakers for cues on the central bank’s rate hike timeline. Spot gold was up half a percent at $1,757.00 per ounce.
(With inputs from Reuters)
(Edited by : Yashi Gupta)
First Published: IST
