Sensex ends at record high, Nifty closes above 13,350 for first time

Sensex and Nifty scaled record highs for the second consecutive session on progress in Covid 19 vaccine, strong  FIIs inflows and signs of economic recovery. Sensex climbed rallied 347 points to end at 45,426-its fresh lifetime peak on Monday.

Earlier, Sensex touched its all-time high of 45,458. Nifty rose 97.20 points or 0.73 per cent to an all-time closing high of 13,355.75. The index touched all-time high of 13,366.65 in early trade today.

UPL, Adani Ports, HUL, Bharti Airtel and ONGC shares were the top gainers on Nifty rising up to 4.56%.

Of 50 Nifty stocks, 31 ended higher and 19 closed lower.

On Sensex, Bharti Airtel was the top gainer rising around 3 per cent, followed by HUL, HDFC, ITC, IndusInd Bank, SBI, Sun Pharma, ONGC, Tech Mahindra, L&T and Asian Paints.

On the other hand, Kotak Bank, Nestle India, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance and HDFC Bank were among the laggards.

Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Senior Technical Analyst at Sharekhan said, "The Nifty continued with its positive momentum from the last week. As a result the index witnessed steady rise on December 7. The index has scaled above its daily upper Bollinger Band & is attempting to push the bands into an expansion phase. Once the bands start expansion, it will assist the price action on the way up. On the higher side, immediate hurdle zone is at 13380-13400. Overall, the index is expected to march towards 13700 in the short term. On the other hand, the support zone shifts higher to 13200-13250."

Share Market highlights: Sensex closes at record high, Nifty ends above 13,350; UPL, Adani Ports, HUL top gainers

Prospects of a COVID-19 vaccine have pushed Sensex and Nifty to record highs in almost every session in the last one month.

While Sensex has surged 8.44% or 3,533 points, Nifty rose 8.91% or 1,092 points  in one month. Strong FII inflows in November and December have turned sentiment positive toward the Indian benchmark indices.

In December, FIIs infused Rs 10,206 crore in first four sessions. In November, FIIs brought a record Rs 65,317 crore into Indian markets.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said, "Market started the week continuing its winning streak. Much of the momentum was from pharma and small caps stocks, the broader market is outperforming the main indices. European stocks have turned focus to the on-going post Brexit trade deal between the UK and EU, trading a bit cautiously. We expect the domestic market to remain strong backed by vaccine progress, economic recovery and strong FII inflows. However, it is advisable for investors to consider partial profit booking in pockets trading very expensive like highly valued large caps and trade vigilantly on small and micro caps though the momentum is expected to remain positive in the short to medium-term."

Recovery in the Indian economy during the second quarter of the current fiscal has also turned sentiment bullish on Dalal Street. Contracting for the second consecutive quarter, India's GDP fell 7.5 per cent during September quarter, albeit much slower than 23.9 per cent decline registered in June quarter, signalling a rebound.

The better than expected growth was primarily due to significant rebound in the sectors like manufacturing, construction and 'trade, hotels, transport, communication & services related to broadcasting'.

Global markets

Shares fell in Europe after a mixed day of trading in Asia following a report that the US is preparing to slap sanctions on a dozen more Chinese officials, ratcheting up tensions with Beijing.  

Germany's DAX slipped 0.3% to 13,253.44 and the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.6% to 5,573.51. In Britain, the FTSE 100 lost 0.2% to 6,535.75. Wall Street looked set for a tepid start, with the future for the S&P 500 down 0.4%. The future for the Dow industrials also lost 0.4%.

In Asian trading, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.2% to 26,506.85 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo lost 0.8% to 26,547.44. The Shanghai Composite index sank 0.8% to 3,416.60. South Korea's Kospi gained 0.5% to 2,745.44. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.6% to 6,675.00.