Bullish Sensex scores triple century

Mumbai: Shrugging of mixed cues from the global markets, the domestic equity indices rallied to a record high following heavy buying by foreign institutional investors (FII) on expectation that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would hold its policy rate unchanged in its forthcoming monetary policy meeting on April 1.

Increasing optimism about a stable government at the centre post Lok Sabha elections and subsequent improvement in the domestic growth also helped the markets to maintain their winning momentum throughout the trading session.

Led by banking sector stocks, the Sensex scaled above its psychological 22K level mark to hit a life time high of 22,074.34 on Monday before ending the session at a new closing high of 22,055.48, gaining 300.16 points or 1.38 per cent. The NSE Nifty too closed at a record high of 6,583.50, climbing 88.60 points or 1.36 per cent.   

“The bulls are absolutely in control of the markets right now. This has forced traders who have sold futures contract in the derivatives market to profit from any sudden fall in the market to square off their positions,” pointed out Arun Kejriwal, director, Kejriwal Research and Investment Service (KRIS).

According to him, there could be another 15-20 similar occasions of equity indices hitting their life time high between now and May 12 (Lok Sabha election results).  Overseas investors continued with their shopping spree as they picked up shares worth Rs 1,465.62 crore on Monday, the provisional data from the stock exchange showed.  

Among the BSE sectoral indices, while the banking index remained the highest gainer with ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank rising 3.71 per cent and 2.53 per cent respectively, the BSE IT and pharma index closed lower.

“This clearly shows that capital is shifting from export oriented and defensive sectors to more cyclical sectors. Investors have turned cautious towards sectors depended on exports as a stable government at the center post-election would lead to rupee appreciating against the US dollar,” Mr Kejriwal said.