Sensex scales 76000 peak, Nifty hits new high before closing lower; RIL, ITC biggest drag

MUMBAI: Sensex scaled the 76,000 level for the first time while Nifty hit a new lifetime peak before closing marginally down in highly volatile trade on Monday as investors booked profits in the last 30 minutes of trade.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed lower by 19.89 points or 0.03 per cent lower at 75,390.50. Intra-day, the barometer climbed 599.29 points or 0.79 per cent to an all-time peak of 76,009.68 following gains in select banking, financial and IT shares. However, investors preferred to book profits at record levels and the index declined around 835 points from the day's high to hit a low of 75,175.27.

Broader Nifty of the NSE declined by 24.65 points or 0.11 per cent, to end at 22,932.45. The 50-issue barometer rose by 153.7 points or 0.66 per cent to hit a new lifetime high of 23,110.80 during the day. However, it tanked around 240 points at the fag-end due to selling in oil, energy and FMCG shares.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries declined nearly 1 per cent, dragging the benchmark indices into the negative. Selling in FMCG giant ITC also eroded gains.

Equity benchmarks were on a record-breaking rally for the third straight day ahead of the results of Lok Sabha polls and a rally in global markers. The results of the ongoing general elections will be declared on June 4.

Sensex breached the historic 75,000-mark for the first time on April 9. It took 31 trading sessions for the benchmark to climb 1,000 points to reach the 76,000-mark on Monday. The BSE benchmark took 21 trading sessions to reach 75,000-mark on April 9 after hitting the 74,000-level on March 6.

From the Sensex firms, Wipro, NTPC, Sun Pharma, Mahindra & Mahindra, ITC and Reliance Industries were among the biggest laggards.

IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro and State Bank of India were among the major gainers.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled in the positive territory.

European markets were also quoting in the green. Wall Street ended with gains on Friday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.38 per cent to USD 82.44 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 944.83 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

On Friday, the BSE benchmark dipped 7.65 points or 0.01 per cent to settle at 75,410.39.

The Nifty breached the 23,000 mark for the first time on Friday. It, however, pared all the gains and ended with a marginal decline of 10.55 points or 0.05 per cent at 22,957.10.