Sensex, Nifty hit fresh all-time highs; Restaurant Brands, Strides Pharma, UCO Bank jump up to 11%

Indian equity benchmarks continued their rise in Friday's early trade, scaling their fresh lifetime peaks. The domestic benchmarks were up led by gains in technology, automobile and metal shares. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack surged 256 points or 0.35 per cent to hit an all-time high of 67,774, while the NSE Nifty moved 70 points or 0.34 per cent up to scale a fresh peak of 20,173. Broader market (mid- and small-cap) shares were also positive as Nifty Midcap 100 climbed 0.36 per cent and small-cap gained 0.58 per cent.

On the global front, Asian equities rose today. Overnight, Wall Street equities closed higher on rising expectations of a US Federal Reserve rate pause in its upcoming policy meeting on September 20.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought Rs 295 crore worth of shares on a net basis during the previous session, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold Rs 50.8 crore worth of shares, exchange data showed.

"The participation of bluechips like Infosys Ltd, RIL, L&T, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank has imparted resilience to the ongoing rally. Even though the undercurrent of the market is bullish the high valuations and new risks like surging crude and rising dollar index can impact the market negatively," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

10 out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the NSE -- were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty IT, Nifty Auto and Nifty Metal were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 0.99 per cent, 0.77 per cent and 0.39 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Bajaj Auto was the top gainer in the Nifty pack as the stock jumped 4.45 per cent to trade at Rs 5,060.05. Hero MotoCorp, Coal India, Eicher Motors and Tata Motors gained up to 2.02 per cent.

In contrast, Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever, Britannia, PowerGrid and Tata Consumer Products were among the top laggards.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,817 shares were advancing while 908 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech, M&M, Tata Motors and Tech Mahindra were among the top gainers.

Also, Restaurant Brands Asia, Strides Pharma Science, UCO Bank, Arvind, Gujarat Ambuja Exports and RattanIndia Power surged up to 10.98 per cent.

Also, Restaurant Brands Asia, Strides Pharma Science, UCO Bank, Arvind, Gujarat Ambuja Exports and RattanIndia Power surged up to 10.98 per cent. On the flipside, Stylam Industries, Transport Corporation of India, West Coast Paper Mills, Bombay Bumrah and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation slipped up to 3.28 per cent.

On Tuesday, Sensex had climbed 52 points or 0.08 per cent to settle at record closing of 67,519, while Nifty had added 33 points or 0.16 per cent to register a new closing peak of 20,103.

Nifty outlook

"Oscillators continue to be at extremes, but with no sign of negative divergences yet. Also, volatility expectations continue to be low, as indicated by VIX's behaviour lately. Both these discourage us from entertaining an outright meltdown. We will go in today expecting 20,230, while also acknowledging the prospects of period of consolidation before 20,600 or more is attempted. Positive bias may however have to be abandoned if 20,100 gives away, but the prospects of a collapse today past 20,033/19,944 looks limited," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

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