The Indian equity benchmarks closed at record highs for second straight session on Tuesday paced by gains in banking, FMCG, media and realty shares as drop in Covid-19 cases and subsequent easing of Covid restrictions in many parts of the country lifted hopes of faster economic recovery.
The Sensex rose as much as 318 points to hit an intraday high of 52,869.51 and Nifty 50 index touched an all-time high of 15,901.60.The Sensex ended 222 points or 0.42 per cent higher at all-time closing high of 52,773 and Nifty 50 index climbed 57 points to close at record high of 15,869.Many states eased coronavirus restrictions on Monday, including New Delhi, where authorities allowed all shops and malls to open as the number of new cases dropped to the lowest in more than two months.Eight of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty Private Bank index's over 1 per cent gain.
Nifty Bank, Financial Services, FMCG, Private Bank and Realty indices also rose ended higher.On the other hand, Metal, Pharma and PSU Banking shares faced selling pressure.Mid- and small-cap shares witnessed buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.61 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.45 per cent.On the primary market front, Shyam Metalics and Energy share sale via initial public offering (IPO) was oversubscribed on the second day of the issue, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.Asian Paints was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose nearly 3 per cent to Rs 3,005.
HDFC Life, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Britannia Industries, SBI Life, Indian Oil, UPL, Infosys and ONGC also rose between 0.8-1.8 per cent.On the flipside, Divis Labs, Adani Ports, Coal India, Tata Motors, Bajaj Finserv, Hindalco, Dr Reddy's Labs, Cipla and Titan were among the losers.The overall market breadth was extremely positive as 1,941 shares ended higher while 1,282 closed lower on the BSE.