Top gainers in the sensex pack included HDFC, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank. (Representative image)
NEW DELHI: Equity indices claimed record peaks for the second consecutive day on Wednesday with the benchmark BSE sensex breaching the 54,000-mark for the first time ever led by banking and financial stocks.
Rising for the third straight session, the BSE index jumped 546 points or 1.02 per cent to finish at fresh peak of 54,370; while the broader NSE Nifty settled 128 points or 0.79 per cent higher at record of 16,258.
Top gainers in the sensex pack included HDFC, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank rising as much as 4.77 per cent.
While Titan, Nestle India, Ultra Cemco, Sun Pharma, Maruti and Bharti Airtel were the major losers falling up to 2.14 per cent.
Here are the top reasons for today’s surge:
* Banking, financial stocks rally
The banking and financial segment led the market rally. Nifty Bank index, which lost more than 3 per cent in the past two weeks, rebounded to gain as much as per cent today.
While the Nifty Bank surged 2.33 per cent while Nifty Financial Services gained 2.59 per cent .
“The momentum that has come after a clean break of 16,000-mark seems to have brought in or at least attracted fresh buyers. We have broken a month-long excruciatingly tight range of 400 points,” Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services told news agency Reuters.
The breakout has also prompted several short-coverings and triggered buying in banking stocks, which were major laggards in the past few weeks, James said, adding that the rally seems to be driven mostly by the Nifty 50 components.
* Strong quarterly results
Market sentiments have been upbeat following strong quarterly results from corporates.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel Ltd rose 0.3 per cent after reporting a 15 per cent increase in first-quarter revenue, helped by higher data usage and subscriber additions.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd rose as much as 2 per cent after reporting two-fold rise in June quarter profit.
The country’s biggest bank SBI posted a 55 per cent rise in standalone net profit at Rs 6,504 crore for the first quarter of the current financial year, helped by decline in bad loans.
The bank’s gross non-performing assets (NPA) of the total advances declined to 5.32 per cent at June-end from 5.44 per cent at June-end last year.
* Positive global cues
Asian shares advanced to one-week highs led largely by good US corporate earnings, although the mood remained cautious as the rapidly spreading Delta variant of the coronavirus clouds the global economic outlook.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.1 per cent to the highest since July 26.
Japan’s Nikkei was in the red as were Chinese shares with the blue-chip index off 0.2 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dipped 0.13 per cent on lingering worries about China’s tech crackdown as well as spiking coronavirus infections in the mainland.
* Upbeat macroeconomic data
Domestic equities continue to look good as of now, Binod Modi Head-Strategy at Reliance Securities told news agency Reuters.
“Key economic indicators like GST collection, auto sales volume and other high-frequency indicators like e-way bills indicate a strong rebound in July, which bodes well and indicates sustained healthy corporate earnings in subsequent quarters,” he noted.
Further, he added that India stands to be benefitted from China’s regulatory crackdown on technology and education companies in recent weeks in the form of FIIs investments.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 2,116.60 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional exchange data.
* RBI policy meet
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) began its three-day policy meet today. It is expected to leave interest rates at record lows for the seventh straight time when it announces its policy decisions on August 6.
Investors are upbeat on expectations that the RBI may come up with some fresh liquidity measures to aid economic recovery.
(With inputs from agencies)
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