Markets climb to lifetime highs; Sensex ends above 58K for the first time & Nifty closes at 17,234

Barometers, Sensex and Nifty, ended at a record high level with decent gains on Friday, September 3, 2021. Both stocks climbed around half a per cent even as the cues from the global equity markets were mixed. The Sensex closed above the 58,000 mark for the first time, while the Nifty ended above the 17,300 level. In the intra-day deals, the Sensex hit a new lifetime high of 58,194.79 while the Nifty50 index touched 17,340.10.

The S&P BSE Sensex gained 277.41 points or 0.48 per cent to close at 58,129.95. The Nifty 50 index added 89.45 points or 0.52 per cent to end at 17,323.60. However, the Nifty Bank index fell 70.15 points or 0.19% to settle at 36,761.15.

In the broader markets at the BSE, the S&P BSE MidCap index closed with a gain of 0.35 points at 24,382.19. In the intraday deal, the index hit a new peak of 24,453.88. The S&P BSE SmallCap index closed with a gain of 0.41 per cent at 27,305.31. In the intraday deal, the index hit a new high of 27,388.48.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1730 shares rose and 1464 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index at NSE, 32 shares rose and 17 fell while 1 remain unchanged. The top five gainers on Nifty are Reliance (up 4.15 per cent), ONGC (up 4 per cent), Coal India (up 3.53 per cent), Titan (up 2.74 per cent) and IOC (up 2,54 per cent). The top five losers are HDFC Life (down 3.29 per cent), Cipla (down 1.49 per cent), Bharti Airtel (down 1.32 per cent), Hindustan Unilever (down 1.04 per cent) and HDFC (down 0.80 per cent).

COVID-19 Update

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 219,070,580 with 4,541,051 global deaths. India reported 399,778 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 439,895 deaths, data showed.

Economy

The seasonally adjusted India Services Business Activity Index was at 56.7 in August, up from 45.4 in July. India's exports jumped 45.17 per cent to $33.14 billion in August against $22.83 billion in the same month last year, according to the Commerce Ministry's provisional data. Imports in August rose 51.47 per cent to $47.01 billion against $31.03 billion in the corresponding month of 2020. The trade deficit in August 2021 was $13.87 billion, compared to $8.2 billion in the year-ago period.

The US trade deficit narrowed more than expected in July as imports declined likely because of shortages and a shift in domestic spending from goods to services. The Commerce Department said on Thursday that the trade gap fell 4.3 per cent to $70.1 billion. Data for June was revised to show the deficit at $73.2 billion instead of $75.7 billion as previously reported.

The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell last week. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 340,000 for the week ended August 28, the lowest level since mid-March 2020.