Sensex, Nifty hit fresh all-time highs for fifth straight day

Mumbai: The Sensex and Nifty contiunued to gain momentum and hit fresh all-time highs for a fifth consecutive session on the back of strong inflows from foreign institutional investors and supportive cues from Asian peers. 

 

In the morning trade, the Sensex touched an all-time high of 22,363.97, up 0.67% or 149.6 points. The National Stock Exchange’s (NSE’s) Nifty, too, hit an all-time high of 6,684.95, up 0.65% or 43.2 points.

 

The gainers included State Bank of India (SBI) that jumped 2.36% to Rs.1,883, while Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd rose 1.82% to Rs.2,634.15 after it launched a generic version of Pfizer’s Caduet tablets, a cholesterol-lowering drug, in the American market. According to IMS Health sales data, Caduet tablets brand and generics had US sales of around $163 million for the 12 months ending January 2014. .

 

 

 

Among the losers, ITC Ltd shares lost 0.5% to Rs.358.15, while HDFC Bank Ltd fell 0.11% to Rs.746.15.

The BSE realty was the top sectoral gainer, up 1.34%. The BSE healthcare index and Bankex were up 0.85% and 0.75%, respectively.

 

Banking shares rose after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) extended the deadline for Indian banks to meet capital requirements under the so-called Basel III norms by a year to 31 March 2019. 

 

 

 

The extension offers relief to an industry burdened by bad loans. Canara Bank rose 4.32%, Bank of India jumped 2.86%, Bank of Baroda rose 2.38%, Federal Bank Ltd soared 1.81%, Punjab National Bank rose 1.81%, Yes Bank Ltd up 1.73%, Indusind Bank Ltd jumped 1.27%, ICICI Bank Ltd rose 0.64% and Axis Bank Ltd zoomed 0.58%.

 

Natco Pharma Ltd was trading at Rs.785 on BSE, down 0.38%, after the Delhi high court barred the export of generic kidney and liver cancer medication, Sorefenat, manufactured by the company on the plea of German drug major Bayer Corp..

 

 

 

Since the beginning of this year, the BSE Sensex has gained 5.3%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $3.23 billion from local equity markets.

 

Overnight, US stocks closed lower. The S&P 500 fell 0.19%, Nasdaq Composite was down 0.54%, while Dow Jones Industrial was down 0.03%.

 

Asian markets were trading mixed. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average was up 0.02%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.16%, while China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.14%.

 

At 9.34am, the 30-share bellwether BSE Sensex was trading up 0.41%, or 91.31 points, at 22,305.68 points, while the National Stock Exchange’s (NSE’s) broader 50-share Nifty was trading higher 0.47%, or 31.05 points, to 6,672.8 points.

Rahul kumar Gupta

PGDM,1st Year

Source:-mint