Sensex breaches 78,000 level

Mumbai: Benchmark Sensex breached the historic 78,000 level for the first time, while Nifty settled at a new record high on Tuesday on buying in blue-chip bank stocks and Reliance Industries (RIL). The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 712.44 points or 0.92 per cent to settle at a new closing peak of 78,053.52 points. During the day, the benchmark soared 823.63 points or one per cent to hit a fresh lifetime high of 78,164.71 points. BSE Sensex breached the 77,000 mark for the first time on June 10. NSE Nifty went up by 183.45 points or 0.78 per cent to settle at a fresh record high of 23,721.30. During the day, Nifty climbed 216.3 points or 0.91 per cent to hit an intra-day lifetime high of 23,754.15.

“A rally in the banking stocks pushed Nifty to hit another record - 34th time this year though a host of other sectors ended in the negative,” said Deepak Jasani, Head (Retail Research), HDFC Securities.

Among the 30 Sensex companies, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finserv, State Bank of India, Reliance Industries and Infosys were the biggest gainers. Power Grid, Asian Paints, Tata Steel, Nestle, Maruti and JSW Steel were among the laggards.

“A positive news from the market perspective is the current account turning surplus in Q4 FY24. This will take away the pressure on the rupee and pave the way for FII inflows when clarity emerges on the Fed rate cuts,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge declined 0.26 per cent while the smallcap index dipped 0.03 per cent.

“The markets edged higher signaling a resumption of the uptrend after a brief pause. Nifty traded within a range during the first half, but selective buying in heavyweight stocks, particularly from the banking sector, spurred a sharp surge. We believe the current buoyancy in banking, coupled with notable strength in IT, will dictate the trend, while other sectors may contribute on a rotational basis,” Ajit Mishra – SVP (research), Religare Broking Ltd.

Among indices, bankex jumped 1.87 per cent, financial services climbed 1.45 per cent, IT by 0.53 per cent, capital goods by 0.28 per cent and teck by 0.43 per cent. Realty declined 1.82 per cent. Power (1.05 per cent), utilities (0.95 per cent), metal (0.84 per cent) and telecommunication (0.28 per cent) also dropped.

India recorded a current account surplus of $5.7 billion or 0.6 per cent of GDP in the March quarter, the Reserve Bank of India said on Monday. This is the first time in ten quarters that the crucial metric of the country’s external strength has turned into surplus mode.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong settled higher while Shanghai ended lower. European markets were trading in the negative territory.