Sensex, Nifty close at record highs; IT, realty stocks shine

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Indian benchmark equity indices settled at record highs on Thursday led by gains in IT and realty stocks. Sensex rallied 254.80 or 0.48% to close at 53,158.85, while Nifty closed at 15,924.20, up 70.25 points or 0.44%.

“As global investors digest inflation data and the Fed commentary, Dalal Street bulls were seen betting on economic recovery as IT stocks continue to power the Indices to new highs. Markets seemed in no mood to oblige investors waiting on the sidelines for a correction as sector rotation played it’s part today as Capital Goods made a smart comeback across market capitalisation. The broader market was buzzing with action across Cement, Real Estate & Pharma names,” said S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities.

Gainers & losers

Sectoral strand

Nifty Realty, up 4.20% was the top sectoral gainer, followed by Nifty IT, up 1.30%. Nifty Bank, Nifty Metal indices rose 0.67% each while the Nifty FMCG index gained 0.30%. On the other hand, the Nifty Auto index fell 0.40% and Nifty Pharma retreated 0.27%.

Broader market

The broader market, however, underperformed the benchmark indices. The BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.31%. The BSE Small-Cap index added 0.43%.

Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1665 shares rose and 1569 shares fell on the BSE. A total of 132 shares were unchanged.

Global markets

Most European shares declined while Asian stocks advanced on Thursday, 15 July 2021.

China’s GDP rose 7.9% year-on-year in the second quarter, official data showed Thursday. Meanwhile, the country’s retail sales in June jumped 12.1% from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. Chinese industrial output rose 8.3% year-on-year in June.

China’s central bank partially rolled over maturing medium-term loans on Thursday, the same day when a cut in the banks’ reserve requirements takes effect.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said in a statement it was keeping the rate on 100 billion yuan ($15.46 billion) worth of one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) loans to some financial institutions steady at 2.95% from previous operations.

US stocks closed flat on Wednesday after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell soothed investor angst by saying a recent inflation spike will fade, helping lift the S&P 500 to a fresh intraday record.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank will maintain its easy monetary policies. Powell said in his semiannual testimony before the House Committee on Financial Services Wednesday that the central bank can wait before it starts to ease its bond purchases despite surging inflation readings. The Fed chair said he still expects inflation to moderate.

“At our June meeting, the Committee discussed the economy’s progress toward our goals since we adopted our asset purchase guidance last December. While reaching the standard of ‘substantial further progress’ is still a ways off, participants expect that progress will continue,” Powell said.