Mumbai: The Sensex crossed 76,000 mark for the first time and Nifty-50 also went past 23,100 mark in tandem led by rally in frontline stocks but in the last hour of trading benchmark indices fell sharply on profit taking.
BSE’s benchmark index had hit the 75,000 mark last month on April 9.
After climbing to 76,009 intra-day, the Sensex closed at 75,390.5 down by 19.89 points or 0.03 per cent. The Nifty-50 index too made a new all time high of 23,110.8 but closed lower at 22,932.45 down by 24.65 points or 0.11 per cent.
Foreign portfolio investors were net sellers of equities worth Rs.541.22 crore while domestic institutions were net buyers by Rs.922.60 crore.
“The bulls are facing stiff resistance at 23,000 levels as investors start booking profit at higher levels to avoid any knee jerk reaction in the market ahead of the election result. Better earnings growth, the expectation of a revival in private capex, and a moderation in FIIs selling intensity are the key positive triggers in the market,” said Vinod Nair, head-Research, Geojit Financial Services.
Broader market closed mixed as the BSE Mid-cap index gained 0.63 per cent while the BSE Small-cap index closed flat losing 0.09 per cent.
Volatility index NSE’s India VIX climbed 6.82 per cent to 23.19 and made a high of 26.20 intra-day which seem to have led to caution among the market participants.
BSE’s IT (0.48 per cent), bank (0.63 per cent) and realty (0.76 per cent) sector indices gained while metal (-0.39 per cent) and power (0.49 per cent) were losers while all other sectoral indices closed flat.
Stronger rupee at 83.13 per US dollar and Brent crude oil futures also in $81-82 per barrel range are providing strength to the Indian market as the selling by the foreign portfolio investors have moderated.
Further Indian Meteoro-logical Department’s May 27 update on Monsoon rains said, “Quantitative-ly, the southwest monsoon seasonal rainfall over the country as a whole is likely to be above normal rainfall.”
Market is likely to cheer IMD update despite election outcome related short term volatility that is likely to prevail till June 4 this year.
