Sensex soars past Mt 55k to end at fresh closing high; TCS, RIL lead

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Equity benchmarks continued their uptrend on Friday to record levels led by strong gains in index heavyweights TCS, L&T, HCL Tech, Tata Steel and Bharti Airtel. Sensex surged 593 points or 1.08% to settled at a record peak of 55,437. Likewise, Nifty 50 climbed 164 points or 1.01% to end at a new closing top of 16,529.

“Domestic main indices raised the bars, registering new highs, bolstered by favourable economic data and a strong performance by large caps like defensive sectors such as IT, FMCG and telecom. Investor sentiments were boosted as retail inflation eased to 5.59% in July from 6.26% in June owing to softening food prices. Moreover, Industrial Production rose by 13.6% YoY in June on account of good performance by manufacturing, mining and power sectors,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Gainer & losers

Sectoral strand

Sectoral indices on the NSE ended mixed. Nifty IT, closing over 1% higher, was the top sectoral gainer followed by the Nifty FMCG, Nifty Bank and Nifty Metal.

On the downside, the Nifty Realty slipped 0.92%, the Nifty Pharma lost 0.59% and the Nifty Auto ended with a marginal loss of 0.02%. Fear gauge India VIX spiked by 4.99% to 12.99 levels.

Broader market

Some pain was visible in the broader markets as they underperformed benchmark indices and ended with marginal losses. The BSE MidCap index ended flat with a negative bias of 0.06% at 22,941 level and the BSE SmallCap index settled at 26,355 down by 0.01%.

The market breadth was negative as 1,651 shares declined compared to 1,568 advanced and 121 remained unchanged.

Vehicle scrappage policy

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the much-awaited vehicle scrappage policy while virtually addressing the Investor Summit in Gujarat on Friday. The vehicle scrappage policy will bring in investments of around Rs 10,000 crore, PM Modi  said in a tweet.

Global markets

European shares opened higher on Friday, 13 August 2021, as investors assessed global economic indicators and rising Covid-19 cases in the search for direction.

Most Asian stocks declined on Friday as the spread of the delta Covid-19 variant and China’s regulatory curbs restrained sentiment despite another record high close on Wall Street.

The focus in China remains on Beijing’s push to exert more control over a range of industries. In real estate, the nation is suspending private equity funds from raising money to invest in residential property development. Separately, a partial shutdown of a major Chinese port due to a virus outbreak stoked concerns about a repeat of last year’s pandemic shipping woes.