Sensex jumps over 350 points to hit fresh all-time high; Nifty tops 19,400 for first time; Bajaj Finance up 7%

Indian equity benchmarks extended their gains record run on Tuesday by scaling fresh all-time high levels. The domestic indices were up led by gains in financials, technology, banks and consumer durables. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack rose 381 points or 0.60 per cent to hit an all-time high of 65,587, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 91 points or 0.58 per cent up to trade at its lifetime peak of 19,414. Mid- and small-cap shares were positive as Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.11 per cent and small-cap climbed 0.38 per cent.

On the global front, Asian equities were mixed. Overnight, Wall Street equities edged higher on Monday.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought Rs 1,996 crore of Indian equities on a net basis, while domestic investors sold Rs 338 crore of shares, as per provisional NSE data.

"The unabated surge in FPI inflows will keep the market resilient. The sharp U-turn in FPI investment from Rs 34,146 crore of selling in the first two months of this year to Rs 90,986 crore of buying in the last two months has turned the market decisively in favour of bulls," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

12 out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty Financial Services, Nifty IT, Nifty Bank and Nifty Consumer Durables were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 0.81 per cent, 0.70 per cent, 0.22 per cent and 0.53 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Bajaj Finance was the top gainer in the Nifty pack as the stock gained 7.21 per cent to trade at Rs 7,862.05. Bajaj Finserv, Hero MotoCorp, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services rose up to 5.32 per cent.

In contrast, Eicher Motors, Bharti Airtel, ONGC, NTPC and Reliance Industries were among the top laggards.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,675 shares were advancing while 1,093 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank, HDFC, TCS and ICICI Bank were among the top gainers.

Also, Endurance Technologies and Kansai Nerolac Paints surged up to 7.52 per cent. In contrast, IDFC First Bank, L&T Finance Holdings, Minda Corp and GPPL slipped up to 5.13 per cent.

The domestic benchmarks settled at their fresh record closing highs on Friday. Sensex had jumped 486 points or 0.75 per cent to scale its fresh record closing level of 65,205 in the previous session; while Nifty had moved 134 points or 0.70 per cent higher to settle at a new peak of 19,323.

Nifty outlook

"Nifty continued with the strong upward move for the fourth consecutive session breaching above the 19,300 zone decisively and has the next target of around 19,700-19,800 levels in the coming days. The major frontline stocks like RIL, SBI, ITC, Bajaj Finance and HDFC twins helped the indices to gain further and have much upside potential from here with strength indicated. The support for the day is seen at 19,200 levels while the resistance is seen at 19,500 levels," said Vaishali Parekh, Vice-President - Technical Research at Prabhudas Lilladher.

Nifty Bank outlook

"Nifty Bank also gained momentum to breach above the 45,000-landmark with strength indicated and further immense potential to carry on the momentum for the next upside targets of 46,400-46,600 levels in the coming sessions with most of the major frontline banking stocks well poised for further gains. Nifty Bank would have the daily range of 44,800-45,600 levels," Parekh stated.

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