Sensex hits lifetime closing high

All-time peak

India’s benchmark equity index Sensex hit a new all-time closing high on Tuesday as global cues remained positive.

Analysts say the G20 meeting of global leaders was giving hope to markets about an improving geo-political situation. Also, the softer-than-expected inflation data in the US has led to the anticipation that the Federal Reserve may not be as aggressive with interest rate hike in December.

Sensex gained 248 points or 0.4 per cent to close at 61,872. The broader Nifty rose 74 points or 0.41 per cent at 18,403 as against its life-time high of 18,604.45 registered on October 19, 2021. However, Nifty registered its year-high value of 18,427.95 on Tuesday.

Besides Sensex, benchmarks such as Nifty Bank, Nifty 100, Nifty Private Bank and Nifty Financial Services also registered their all-time peak on Tuesday.

Boost to sentiments

Sentiments got a solid boost as a meeting between US President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping on the sidelines of G20 fed hopes of easing US-Chinese tension over security, trade, technology and human rights. Analysts said that a healthy trend in the equity markets was the slow acquisition of large-cap stocks for the past many weeks.

Still, the broader markets, including the small- and mid-cap stocks, in India are yet to see major buying. The fact that India’s exports dipped to $29.78 billion in October 2022 from $35.73 billion a year ago and the trade deficit widened to $26.91 billion as against $17.91 billion a year ago has not impacted markets in a big way.

FPI data

Data on India’s inflation, released on Monday after the market closing, showed that annual retail inflation had eased to 6.77 per cent in October from 7.41 per cent in the previous month. On Tuesday, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were net sellers in cash markets worth ₹221 crore. The domestic institutional investors too were net sellers to the tune of ₹549 crore.

In the derivatives segment, FPIs were net sellers of stock futures worth ₹1,242 crore on Tuesday and buyers of index futures worth ₹109 crore. In November so far, FPIs have been net buyers to the tune of ₹13,357 crore in the cash markets, while DII have sold stocks worth ₹6,146 crore.

Analyst view

Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, is of the view that the short-term trend of Nifty “continues to be positive” and the upside momentum seems to have picked up after a range movement.

“A reasonable positive candle was formed on the daily chart with minor lower shadow. This pattern indicates an emergence of buying interest in the market after couple of days of choppy movement. The immediate resistance of 18350 (lower top of January 18) has been surpassed and Nifty closed above it. New swing high was formed at 18427. The next upside targets to be watched around 18600-18700 levels in the next few sessions. Immediate support is placed at 18,300.”

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