Power Grid, ICICI Bank, ITC, Reliance Industries among top gainers & losers as market ends higher

The Indian equity market closed higher on Tuesday tracking foreign fund inflows amid a positive trend in global markets. The Sensex climbed 248.84 points or 0.40 per cent to close at a record high of 61,872.99-surpassing its previous closing peak of 61,795.04 on November 11.  

During the day, the index logged a high of 61,955.96 and a low of 61,436.90. 

Nifty too advanced 74.25 points or 0.41 per cent to end at 18,403.40. Of 30 Sensex stocks, 21 ended in green.   

Top Gainers   

Top Sensex gainers were Power Grid (2.20%), ICICI Bank (1.92%) , Bharti Airtel (1.64%), UltraTech Cement (1.56%), State Bank of India (1.41%) and Dr Reddy's (1.41%) were the top Sensex gainers. 

Top Losers   

ITC (0.60%), Reliance Industries (0.43%), Bajaj Finserv (0.76%) and Nestle (0.16%) were among the top Sensex losers. 

Market cap of BSE-listed firms rose to Rs 285.16 lakh crore today against Rs 284.82 lakh crore in the previous session. Market breadth was positive with 1,824 shares closing higher against 1,630 stocks falling on BSE. 147 shares were unchanged. 

Midcap and small cap indices on BSE gained 19 points and 2 points, respectively. Banking, auto and oil and gas shares were the top gainers with their BSE indices zooming 335 points, 225 points and 198 points, respectively.  

Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities said, "Rally gathered pace towards the closing hours after trading range-bound for a major part of the trading session. Majority of the European and Asian indices logged gains, which had a rub-off effect on the local benchmarks. Sharp fall in the crude oil prices and the strengthening rupee against the dollar boosted investors' confidence. With domestic inflation showing signs of cooling, traders are hoping that the RBI in next month's policy meeting may take a dovish stance in its rate setting decision. For the trend following traders, 18300 would be the sacrosanct support level. Above which, the index could rally till 18500-18600. On the flip side, if the index trades below 18300, the chances of hitting 18230-18200 would turn bright."

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained net buyers on Monday as they bought shares worth Rs 1,089.41 crore, as per exchange data. 

Meanwhile, the rupee gained 17 paise to close at 81.11 against the US dollar on Tuesday, on positive domestic macroeconomic data and weak American currency. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 81.18 and touched an intra-day high of 81.04 and a low of 81.45 against the greenback. 

Previous session   

The Indian equity market closed lower on Monday led by selling in consumer durables, auto and banking shares amid a weak trend in global equities. Sensex closed 420 points lower at 60,613 and Nifty fell 129 points to end at 18,028. Of 30 Sensex stocks, 24 ended in the red. 

Global Markets   

In Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended higher. Equity exchanges in Europe were trading in the positive territory in the afternoon session. Wall Street ended in negative territory on Monday. International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 1.62 per cent lower at $91.63 per barrel.  

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