NIFTY50 and SENSEX close at record high, banking stocks lead the day

The Indian benchmark indices, SENSEX and NIFTY ended Tuesday’s session at a fresh record high level. After starting the trading session on a positive note, benchmark indices went from strength to strength to close at a fresh high.

The SENSEX ended above the 78,000 mark for the first time, up by 0.92% and the NIFTY50 index closed above the 23,700 mark up by 0.78% after buying in bluechip bank stocks and Reliance Industries amid firm trends in Asian markets.

However, the real hero was the Nifty Bank. The Nifty Bank index climbed 1.74% higher to close above the 52,600 level. From the banking pack, ICICI Bank led from the front. The share price of ICICI Bank gained 2.38% to hit a fresh record high. The private lender entered the elite club of $100 billion the market capitalization of $100 billion mark.

Investors showed buying interest in banking and IT stocks in today's trading session after last few days of consolidations. This helped benchmark indices scale fresh highs even as the majority of the sectors ended in red. As per experts, upcoming budget expectations and how monsoon progress across the country are two key events to watch out.

Top Gainers & Losers

Index Movers

Coming to the NIFTY50 index pullers and draggers. HDFC Bank (+59.07 pts), ICICI Bank (+54.03 pts), Axis Bank (+28.71 pts), Reliance (+16.97 pts) and L&T (+15.26 pts) were the pullers of the day. Draggers included Power Grid (-5.9 pts), Tata Steel (-3.93 pts), BPCL (-3.68 pts), Asian Paints (-3.59 pts) and Eicher Motors (-2.67 pts).

Broader indices

The broader markets ended the day on a mixed note. Nifty Midcap 100 closed down by 0.38%, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index gained 0.14%. The market breadth was weak on Tuesday. The declining stocks outnumbered the advancing stocks by 1,457.

Sectoral Indices

The top three sectoral gainers were Nifty Financial Services (+1.90%), NIFTY Bank (+1.74%), and Nifty Private Bank (+1.70%). The top laggards included Nifty Realty (-1.75%), NIFTY Metal (-0.70%), and Nifty Media (-0.50%).

Global Markets

The key Asian benchmark indices concluded Tuesday’s trading session on a mixed note. The Nikkei 225 gained 0.95%, the Kospi closed up by 0.36%, while the Shanghai index dropped by 0.44%.

At 3:50 PM, the Dow Jones Futures were trading down by 39 points at 39,805.