Sensex, Nifty hit all-time high levels; Sesa Sterlite up 4.78%

The BSE benchmark Sensex today rose to its all-time high of 22,795.58 but settled the day a few points lower at 22,764.83 on hectic buying in blue-chip stocks L&T, ICICI Bank and SBI.

The 50-share Nifty of NSE breached the crucial 6,800-mark to end the day at it its all-time closing high of 6,817.65, a rise of 38.25 points or 0.56 per cent. It set a fresh all-time high of 6,825.45 intra-day.

After a promising start, the BSE Sensex witnessed high volatility but a spurt of buying in the late afternoon trade lifted the index to its life-time high of 22,795.58. But it immediately pared some gains to settle the day at 22,764.83, a gain of 135.99 points or 0.60 per cent, from its previous close.

Jignesh Chaudhary, Head Of Research, Veracity Broking Services, said: "Today European markets are closed on the occasion of Easter Monday, but Indian indices showed movement and again posted their all-time high levels with the help of blue-chip companies which traded positively."

Capital inflows also boosted the market sentiment as they bought shares worth a net Rs 433.40 crore on last Thursday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

"Buying in banking stocks, which had corrected to lower levels at the start of 2014, and other sectors like capital goods and metal are keeping markets at higher levels. Other beaten down sectors like realty and cement have also recovered and participating in the current rally," said Nidhi Saraswat, Senior Research Analyst, Bonanza Portfolio.

Mid-cap and small-cap indices also shot up by 0.79 per cent and 1.38 per cent respectively on sustained buying from retail investors and outperformed the Sensex.

The market may remain volatile this week in view of expiry of futures and options April contract on Wednesday, brokers said.

Sesa Sterlite zoomed 4.78 per cent, the best among Sensex scrips, after the the Supreme Court today lifted the one-and-a-half year old mining ban in Goa, but with some restrictions.

L&T with over 4 per cent gain and SBI at 2.62 per cent were two other prominent Sensex gainers.

M&M at 3.54 per cent, BHEL 3.07 per cent, Bharti Airtel 3.00 per cent Axis Bank 2.57 per cent, Maruti Suzuki 2.16 per cent, Coal India 1.84 per cent, ICICI Bank 1.55 per cent were among Sensex other gainers.

However, Wipro fell sharply by 6.65 per cent on its disappointing revenue outlook for the next year. HUL was down 1.69 per cent.

Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, consumer goods rose by 2.91 per cent, followed by metal 2.23 per cent, Bankex 2.34 per cent, auto 1.33 per cent and consumer durable 0.42 per cent while IT declined by 0.68 per cent, FMCG 0.39 per cent and realty 0.28 per cent.

The market breadth remained positive as 1,761 stocks ended in the green, 1,029 stocks finished in the red and 107 ruled steady.

The total turnover dropped to Rs 2,384.20 crores from Rs 2,957.30 crs on last Thursday.

In Asia, key benchmark indices in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan dropped by 0.03-1.52 per cent, while from Singapore moved up by 0.08 per cent. The Hong Kong market was closed for holiday.

The stock market in Mumbai will remain closed on Thursday, April 24, on account of Parliamentary elections in Mumbai constituency.