Equity Markets rise for 3rd session; Sensex rose 167 points & Nifty 50 closes at 17,378

After hitting record-high levels in early trade, domestic equity benchmarks came off the day's high and ended with decent gains on Monday, September 6, 2021. In the intraday trade today, S&P BSE Sensex had touched a new high of 58,515.85, while the Nifty 50 index hit an all-time high of 17,429.55.

The S&P BSE Sensex added 166.96 points or 0.29 per cent to close at 58,296.91. The Nifty 50 index advanced 54.20 points or 0.31 per cent to end at 17,377.80. However, the Nifty Bank index closed 168.80 points or 0.46 per cent down at 36,592.35.

In the broader market at the BSE, the S&P BSE MidCap underperformed the Sensex as it rose 0.18 per cent, while the S&P BSE SmallCap outperformed the benchmark and closed with a gain of 0.59 per cent. Both indices had, however, touched fresh peaks in opening trade.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1691 shares rose and 1627 shares fell. A total of 177 shares were unchanged. On the Nifty 50 index at the NSE, 24 shares rose and 26 shares declined. The top five stocks at Nifty 50 were Wipro (up 4.95 per cent), HCL Technologies (up 2.66 per cent), Infosys (up 1.80 per cent), Reliance (up 1.70 per cent) and Hindalco (up 1.63 per cent). The top five losers on Nifty were IOC (down 1.55 per cent), IndusInd Bank (down 1.19 per cent), ONGC (down 1.18 per cent), Britannia (down 1.07 per cent) and Kotak Bank (down 0.94 per cent).

COVID-19 Update

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 22,06,91,876 with 45,67,387 deaths. India reported 4,04,874 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 4,40,752 deaths while 3,21,81,995 patients have been discharged, data showed.

Economy

India's forex reserves rose by $16.663 billion to touch a record high of $633.558 billion in the week ended August 27, 2021, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed. According to RBI data, forex reserves rose to a record $633.558 billion, mainly due to an increase in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) holdings.

US jobs data released on Friday came in far short of expectations, with the economy adding just 235,000 positions in August. The unemployment rate declined to 5.2 per cent from 5.4 per cent in July, in line with estimates. In a press conference on Friday, President Joe Biden touted the average monthly job gains since he took office and lower weekly jobless claims, and called for more vaccinations and for Congress to pass infrastructure and budget bills. US markets are closed on Monday for the Labour Day holiday.