Sensex tests Mt 70k; Nifty at fresh high

Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex breached a new milestone of 70,000 points before closing 102 points higher, while Nifty settled just shy of the 21,000 mark on Monday, driven by gains in banking, IT and metal shares. After a gap-up opening, the 30-share index rose to a record intra-day high of 70,057.83 points. Later, it shed some of the gains to close at 69,928.53 points, showing a rise of 102.93 points or 0.15 per cent. As many as 18 Sensex shares closed in the green, 11 declined, and one settled unchanged.

The broader Nifty also hit its record trading high of 21,026.10 amid early gains in global markets. The 50-share index gained 27.70 points or 0.13 per cent to settle just below the 21,000 level at 20,997.10, its all-time closing high. Among Sensex shares, Ultratech Cement jumped the most by 3.04 per cent. Nestle rose 1.3 per cent, Power Grid 1.05 per cent and Tata Motors 0.85 per cent. Gains in IndusInd Bank, HCL Tech, TCS, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, ITC, JSW Steel and Tata Steel helped the barometer scale a fresh high. Axis Bank fell the most by 1.26 per cent, M&M by 0.99 per cent and Hindustan Unilever by 0.67 per cent. Maruti, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel, and HDFC Bank and Infosys also declined.

“The market crossed 70,000 levels today, while the broader market outperformed the main indices. However, profit booking was evident at higher levels as traders anticipated clues from tomorrow's significant data releases on inflation from the US and India, as well as the IIP. Investors will be closely watching the upcoming FOMC meeting tomorrow for clues about potential future rate cuts while expecting to keep rates the same this time,” said Vinod Nair, Head (Research),Geojit Financial Services.

In the broader market, BSE LargeCap advanced by 0.21 per cent, BSE MidCap by 0.91 per cent, while SmallCap rose by 0.71 per cent. Among sectoral indices, BSE Commodities rose by 1.16 per cent, BSE Metal by 1.1 per cent, BSE Services by 0.95 per cent, BSE Capital Goods by 0.76 per cent, BSE Utilities by 0.67 per cent, and BSE Auto by 0.48 per cent. However, BSE Healthcare dropped 0.38 per cent and Oil & Gas by 0.15 per cent.