Market at record high: Sensex rises over 350 points, Nifty trades above 21,750

Indian equity benchmarks extended their record run in Thursday's trade, led by gains in banks, financials, consumer and metal stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack was up 368.32 points to hit a lifetime high of 72,406.75, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 104.3 points up to scale an all-time peak of 21,759.05. Mid- and small-cap shares were up as well as Nifty Midcap 100 climbed 0.24 per cent and small-cap gained 0.55 per cent. India VIX, fear index, rose 2.79 per cent to 15.99-level.

Asian shares touched five-month highs today, supported by bets that the US central bank could cut rate cuts next year. Overnight, US stocks overnight eked out gains.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought Indian shares on a net basis during the previous session, purchasing Rs 2,926.05 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 192.01 crore.

13 out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the NSE -- were trading in the green today. Sub-indexes Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty FMCG, Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty Metal were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 0.44 per cent, 0.45 per cent, 0.42 per cent, 0.31 per cent and 0.66 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, SBI Life was the top gainer in the Nifty pack as the stock jumped 1.40 per cent to trade at Rs 1,441.25. Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, Hero MotoCorp and JSW Steel gained up to 1.30 per cent.

In contrast, Dr Reddy's, Asian Paints, Bajaj Auto, Britannia and Tech Mahindra were among the top laggards.

The overall market breadth was strong as 1,787 shares were advancing while 1,326 were declining on BSE.

"A significant market indicator is the volatility index VIX rising above 15. Investors should take this as an indication of high volatility ahead. Remaining invested is important in a bull market. But chasing the market at high valuations would be highly risky," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

On the 30-share BSE index, frontline stocks such as HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, M&M and Bharti Airtel were among the top gainers.

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