Sensex, Nifty rally to record highs

Indian markets closed at record highs on Wednesday ahead of the RBI monetary policy announcement on Thursday.

The S&P BSE Sensex hit the psychological 30,000-mark in early morning trades before retreating and settling up 64 points (0.21%) at 29,974.24.

The Nifty 50 hit a new intra-day all time high of 9,273.90 before finally ending the day with a gain of 27.30 points (0.3%) at 9,265.15.

 “Equity benchmarks made a weak start and traded slightly in red in early deals as traders remained on sidelines ahead of two day Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) policy meet which began on Wednesday. The street expects the Reserve Bank of India to maintain status quo on key interest rates at its monetary policy review meeting on April 6, 2017,” Canara Bank Securities said.

The central bank is widely expected to hold rates, but there are hopes of more steps being announced to address growing NPAs and excess liquidity, traders said.
The Monetary Policy Committee, headed by the RBI Governor Urjit Patel, began its two-day meeting on Wednesday.

“With RBI meet underway, hopes of measures towards NPA resolution and excess liquidity extended banks’ run, while other rate sensitive sectors also tagged along, helping indices to record peaks. Firm rupee and immigration woes continue to bother IT companies, and international cues should weigh more in the week ahead in light of US jobs data and FOMC minutes release,” said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Meanwhile, Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a Rs 534.45 crore on Monday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

Shares of index heavyweight Reliance Industries maintained its winning streak triggered by Jio prime membership offer, rising 3.19% to close at a fresh nine-year high of Rs 1,414.90.

All-time high
Maruti Suzuki zoomed 4.40% to end at an all-time high of Rs 6,339.40, while L&T surged 2.18% to Rs 1,696.85 on reports of the company bagging huge orders.
Among the sectoral indices, realty rose the most by surging 4.08%, followed by consumer durables (2.41%), capital goods (1.53%), auto (1.09%), metal (0.94%) and oil and gas (0.72%).

Gainers among the 30 Sensex stocks were Adani Ports (4.50%), HUL (1.82%), Tata Steel (1.65%), Axis Bank (up 1.54%), Lupin (1.28%), SBI (1.21%), NTPC (1%), Wipro (0.68%), Bharti Airtel (0.67%), Tata Motors (0.66%) and M&M (0.37%).
The broader markets too remained extremely bullish, with several stocks hitting 52-week highs, lifting the small-cap index by 1.12% and mid-cap index by 0.46%.