Markets hit new peaks post RBI forecast
The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 303.91 points, or 0.44 per cent, to hit its new peak of 69,825.60.
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MUMBAI: Benchmark Sensex and Nifty rebounded to close at their new lifetime highs on Friday after the Reserve Bank raised the growth forecast for the current fiscal and kept policy rates unchanged, triggering heavy buying in banking and other rate-sensitive stocks.
The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 303.91 points, or 0.44 per cent, to hit its new peak of 69,825.60. The index touched the highest intra-day level of 69,893.80. The broader index Nifty also climbed 68.25 points or 0.33 per cent to reach a fresh record high of 20,969.40.
Among major Sensex movers, HCL Tech logged the biggest gain of 2.69 per cent, followed by JSW Steel (2.44 per cent) and Infosys (1.67 per cent. Other gainers included HDFC Bank, Titan, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank. In contrast, ITC fell the most by 1.95 per cent, Mahindra & Mahindra by 1.48 per cent and Bajaj Finance by 1.18 per cent.
Meanwhile, the turnover of derivatives in BSE Sensex scaled a new milestone of Rs 200 lakh crore on the weekly expiry of Friday. The total turnover was Rs 213.9 lakh crore as 30.6 crore contracts were traded.
“The RBI took a balanced approach by raising the economic growth forecast and also expressing concern on food inflation, which may have an elevated trajectory in the short term. A drop in rabi sowing and dipping reservoir levels provides a perception that foodgrain prices can rise. The impact was visible on FMCG stocks, which underperformed today,’’ said Vinod Nair, head, Research, Geojit Financial Services.
Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 1,564.03 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
In the broader market, the BSE largecap index moved up marginally by 0.10 per cent, while the midcap gauge slipped by 0.16 per cent and smallcap declined by 0.44 per cent. Small and midcap (SMID) stocks have outperformed Nifty over the last 11 months. The outperformance versus Nifty is about to hit the cyclical historical peaks, DSP Mutual Fund said in a report.
Historically, small and midcap stocks enter a period of outperformance once they reverse from deep phases of underperformance, and perform poorly when they have high trailing outperformance.