Global cues, monsoon rains lift equity indices to new highs

Mumbai, July 10 (IANS) Positive global cues along with short covering, above normal monsoon rains and expectations of healthy quarterly numbers pushed the Indian equity markets to close at fresh highs on Monday.

According to market observers, despite a technical glitch which impacted the day's trade on some segments of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the key domestic indices also made new record intra-day highs.

The wider Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed the day's trade at 9,771.05 points -- higher by 105.25 points, or 1.09 per cent.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 31,510.62 points, closed at 31,715.64 points -- up 355.01 points, or 1.13 per cent, from its previous close at 31,360.63 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 31,768.39 points -- a new record -- and a low of 31,471.41 points during the intra-day trade.

The BSE market breadth was bullish -- with 1,540 advances and 1,112 declines.

"Markets zoomed higher on Monday to close at new life highs on the back of positive global cues and short covering in select index heavyweights," Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS.

"Major Asian markets have ended on a mixed note. European indices like CAC 40, DAX and FTSE 100 traded higher."

In a related development, a technical glitch occurred during the early-morning trade session on Monday and impacted trading on the Cash and Future and Option (F&O) segments. The glitch was noticed after the NSE stock rates were not in tandem with BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) scrip prices.

Full-fledged trading resumed during the mid-afternoon session at around 12.30 p.m.

On the currency front, the rupee strengthened by six paise to 64.53 to a US dollar from its previous close of 64.59 to a greenback.

In investments, provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought stocks worth Rs 102.27 crore while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) invested scrip worth Rs 894.57 crore.

"Equity market ended on record closing high and market sentiment remained positive in spite of NSE technical glitch," said Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls.

"IT, telecom, auto, bank, capital goods ended in green while defensive sector FMCG ended in red."

Sector-wise, the S&P BSE IT index gained by 285.89 points, the banking index by 279.58 points, the capital goods index by 205.54 points, metal index by 167.75 and the healthcare index by 163.35

Major Sensex gainers on Monday were: Bharti Airtel, up 5.39 per cent at Rs 405.40; Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), up 4.66 per cent at Rs 2,440.85; Wipro, up 4.64 per cent at Rs 268.50; Coal India, up 3.25 per cent at Rs 259.20; and Lupin, up 2.96 per cent at Rs 1,149.75.

Major Sensex losers were: Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), down 0.54 per cent at Rs 1,367.70; ITC, down 0.25 per cent at Rs 333.25 and Hindustan Unilever, down 0.09 per cent at Rs 1,096.75.