Domestic equity benchmarks clocked all-time highs on Monday driven by strong buying interest across spaces with financial, energy, and auto stocks being at the forefront of the rally. The Sensex gained as much as 337.4 points, or 0.4 per cent, to an all-time high of 84,881.7 while the Nifty50 added 134.9 points, or 0.5 per cent, to register a record high of 25,925.8, having surpassed the existing peak of 25,849.3. The Nifty Bank index--whose 12 constituents include some of the largest lenders in the country--also clocked an all-time high, led by strong action in State Bank of India (SBI) and HDFC Bank shares. 

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At 1:30 pm, both main indices held on firmly to the green, with the Sensex up 228.3 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 84,772.6 and the Nifty50 at 25,896.8, up 105.8 points, or 0.4 per cent, for the day. 

ONGC, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), SBI, Bajaj Auto, HDFC Life, SBI Life, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), and Coal India Ltd (CIL), trading between 1.5 per cent and 3.3 per cent higher, rose the most among the 34 gainers in the 50-scrip basket. On the other hand, Eicher Motors, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, Hindalco, LTIMindtree, and Divi's Labs, trading between 0.7 per cent and 1.6 per cent lower, were the top Nifty50 losers. 

HDFC Bank, M&M, SBI, and Bharti Airtel were the biggest contributors to the gains in main indices.

Barring IT stocks, all sectoral gauges enjoyed gains on NSE in a rally led by financial, energy, and auto stocks. 

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The Nifty Bank rose as much as 295.3 points, or half a per cent, to scale an all-time high of 54,088.5, surpassing an earlier peak of 54,066.1. Bank of Baroda, PNB, SBI, Bandhan Bank, and HDFC Bank were among the top gainers in the banking index. The index had two stocks in red in afternoon deals: ICICI Bank (down 1.5 per cent) and IndusInd Bank (0.8 per cent). 

Many analysts say that a strong domestic economic outlook and positive sentiments across global markets, cemented by a better-than-expected 50 bps rate cut in the US this month, is driving gains on Dalal Street.  

Midcap and smallcap stocks also participated in Monday's rally in the domestic market, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices trading around one per cent higher each at the last count. 

Overall market breadth remained in favour of the bulls for much of the session, with an advance-decline ratio of 3:2 as 2,411 stocks rose while 1,635 declined on BSE. That essentially means 3 stocks rose for every 2 stocks falling on the bourse.      

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