Markets Live: Sensex ends at lifetime high of 37,692, Nifty closes at 11,387

Closing bell

The Sensex and Nifty closed at fresh record levels largely on the back of gains in banking, energy and telecom stocks amid weak global cues.

The 30-share BSE Sensex hit an all-time high of 37,805.25 (intraday), breaking its previous intraday record level of 37,711.87 touched on August 1.

The Sensex closed up by 135.73 points, or 0.36 per cent, at 37,691.89, its all-time closing high, even as 17 of its constituents ended in the red.

Similarly, the Nifty advanced 26.30 points or 0.23 per cent to end at a historic high of 11,387.10, surpassing its previous record close of 11,360.80 hit on Friday. The 50-share index touched intraday high of 11,427.65.

Fresh buying by domestic institutional investors and better-than-expected June quarter results from some blue-chip companies boosted investor sentiment.

Global markets

European shares struggled as fears of the escalating US-China trade conflict outweighed the boost to sentiment from Chinese authorities' intervention last week to shore up its currency. Click here to read more

Bullion prices

Gold prices edged up by Rs 35 to Rs 30,585 per 10 grams at the bullion market. Silver, too, advanced by Rs 100 to Rs 39,200 per kg due to increased offtake by industrial units and coin makers. Read more

BSE sectoral indices

Sensex gainers, losers

Nifty sectoral indices

Top Nifty gainers, losers

The Sensex fell slightly from intraday high of 37,805 but was still trading higher by 138.18 points or 0.37 per cent at 37,694.34. Similarly, the Nifty was trading up 27.2 points or 0.23 per cent at 11,387.20. The NSE index touched intraday high of 11,426.15.

Top five Sensex gainers were Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, Bharti Airtel and Coal India, while the major losers were Tata Motors, Kotak Bank, HUL, Sun Pharma and IndusInd Bank.

MCX Aluminium

Aluminium futures contract on the Multi Commodity Exchange continued to trade subdued all-through last week. The contract hovered around ₹142 per kg initially and fell towards the end of the week. It currently trades at around ₹139 per kg. Click here to read more

Britannia Industries to invest Rs 300 cr

Britannia Industries, the country’s largest biscuit-maker, will invest ₹ 300 crore as capex towards its dairy business.  The board has approved issue of bonus debentures. It will consider a stock split on August 23. Read more

ONGC operating profit jumps

Oil and Natural Gas Corp’s highest ever pre-tax quarterly profit provides cash flow to the state-owned firm to reduce borrowings, says Moody’s Investors Service. For the April-June quarter of the current fiscal, ONGC reported 47.2 per cent increase in EBITDA or operating profit to Rs 14,240 crore. Read more

Brent crude jumps to $74/barrel

Oil prices rose after Saudi crude production registered a surprising dip in July and as American shale drilling appeared to plateau. Spot Brent crude oil futures were trading at $73.68 per barrel at 0205 GMT on Monday, up 47 cents, or 0.6 per cent, from their last close. Read more

Forex market

The dollar edged towards a one-year high, as escalating trade war rhetoric between the United States and its trading partners helped the US currency. The dollar index, which measures it against a basket of six other major currencies, was about 0.2 per cent higher at 95.27. Read more

L&T wins new orders

Larsen & Toubro's construction arm has won orders worth Rs 1,296 crore across business segments in the domestic market. L&T shares were trading up 0.06 per cent at Rs 1,292.15 on the BSE. Read more

Bhushan Power: Deadline extended for submitting bids

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has extended the deadline for submission of revised bids for debt-ridden Bhushan Power and Steel by one week on the plea of Tata Steel, a resolution applicant in this. Click here to read more

CreditAccess Grameen: A credit-worthy offer

Given the huge potential for micro-credit in India and the success of the joint lending group model, growth has been robust for most players. For CreditAccess Grameen, too, gross assets under management has grown by a strong 57 per cent (compounded annually) between FY14 and FY18.  Click here to read more

Nifty 50 August futures (11,415)

Short-term traders can go long and also accumulate on dips at 11,405. Stop-loss can be placed at 11,380 for the target of 11,470. Revise the stop-loss higher to 11,430 as soon as the contract moves up to 11,445. Click here to read more

Domestic shares continued their uptrend on heavy buying in bank, metal and PSU stocks amid weak global cues. However, FMCG, IT, healthcare and realty stocks succumbed to selling pressure.

The Sensex was trading higher by 155.78 points or 0.41 per cent at 37,711.94 and the Nifty up 34.7 points or 0.31 per cent att 11,395.50.

The Nifty PSU Bank index rose as much as 2.3 per cent to its highest since Feb. 15. Top lender State Bank of India was trading higher by 3 per cent. Private sector lenders Axis Bank surged nearly 5 per cent and ICICI Bank 3.6 per cent.

Sustained buying by DIIs and strengthening of rupee boosted the domestic sentiment. 

Meanwhile, buying momentum from late last week, after the country's weatherman forecast average rainfall during the final two months of the crucial monsoon season, continued on Monday with Hero MotoCorp and Maruti Suzuku India gaining more than one per cent each.

The southwest monsoon that spans from June to September delivers nearly 70 percent of rains that India needs to water its farms and recharge reservoirs and aquifers. Nearly half of the country's farmland, without any irrigation cover, depends on annual rains to grow a number of crops.

“We're tracking global sentiment ... monsoon update has helped sentiment and that will continue to be a factor in the coming weeks,” said Jayant Manglik, president - retail distribution, Religare Broking.

Is the financial industry well structured?

The job of the financial industry is to allocate capital efficiently. Capital that is saved by savers (mostly households) and used by companies for investment. The two main legs of this industry are banks and mutual funds. Does the structure of both lead to an efficient allocation of savings to those most deserving of it?  Click here to read more

IndiGo Airlines: Singed by high costs, low fares

Rising costs, primarily of fuel, and the inability to pass these on to customers due to cut-throat competition and capacity additions in the sector, saw IndiGo Airlines’ profit in the June 2018 quarter crash 97 per cent y-o-y to ₹28 crore.  Click here to read more

HDFC AMC makes stellar debut

Shares of HDFC Asset Management Company made a stellar debut on the bourses today, with a gain of 58 per cent against the issue price of Rs 1,100 per share.  Read more

Wipro settles National Grid lawsuit

Wipro has settled a lawsuit from the UK-based electricity and gas utility major National Grid for $75 million. The settlement comes without admission of liability or wrongdoing of any kind by the parties, a common practice followed by companies in the US. Read more

Escorts group chairman passes away

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Escorts group Chairman Rajan Nanda passed away yesterday after a brief illness. Rajan Nanda was an active member of several apex trade and industry bodies. Read more

Weekly trading guide

SBI (₹298.6)

SBI surged over 4 per cent, breaking and closing decisively above the key resistance level of ₹287. The rally in the stock over the last couple of weeks has strengthened its upmove. The region between ₹285 and ₹287 will now act as a strong support.

ITC (₹303.7)

ITC was stuck in a sideways range between ₹295 and ₹305 last week. Though the broader bullish outlook remains intact, the near-term view is mixed. Support is at ₹295 and resistance is at ₹308. A range-bound move between ₹295 and ₹308 is possible for some time.

Infosys (₹1,364.1)

Infosys fell sharply by about 3 per cent initially, but managed to recover in the later part of the week. Resistance is at ₹1,390. A strong break above it is needed for the uptrend to resume. Such a break can take the stock higher to ₹1,435 initially.

RIL (₹1,176.7)

RIL surged, breaking above the key resistance level of ₹1,140, as expected last week. The stock rallied over 6 per cent intra-week to make a high of ₹1,202.95. However, it has come off from those levels, giving back some of the gains, and closed 4 per cent higher for the week. Near-term supports are at ₹1,145 and ₹1,138.

Tata Steel (₹555.1)

Tata Steel was range-bound last week. The immediate outlook is mixed. Support is at ₹535 (100-week moving average) and resistance is at ₹575 (21-week moving average). The Tata Steel share can remain range-bound between ₹535 and ₹575 for some time. 

Click here to view the full guide

Shipping Corpn falls 5%

Shares of Shipping Corp of India Ltd fell 5 per cent to Rs 61.2, lowest since July 24, as June-quarter loss almost doubled from a year earlier. Read more

The Sensex surged 249.09 points to hit intraday high of 37,805.25 and the Nifty jumped 65.35 points to 11,426.15 against 11,360.80 on heavy buying in banking, metal, PSU and consumer durables stocks amid weak global cues. However, healthcare, FMCG, IT and realty succumbed to selling pressure.

At 11.35 am, the BSE index was up 219.90 points or 0.59 per cent at 37,776.06 and the NSE index up 51.4 points or 0.45 per cent at 11,412.20.

Top five Sensex gainers were Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Coal India and Bharti Airtel, while the major losers were HUL, Kotak Bank, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank and Wipro.

Gold extends rally

Gold prices held onto the last session's gains, extending a rally from a 17-month low, as the US dollar traded largely steady. Spot gold was up 0.1 per cent at $1,214.76 an ounce at 0056 GMT, building on its 0.5 per cent gain on Friday. Click here to read more

China stocks tumble

China's stocks were lower as Beijing's latest tariff threats escalated the tit-for-tat Sino-US trade war, though the central bank's efforts to shore up the tumbling yuan helped to stabilise the currency. Click here to read more

Asian markets

Asian shares pared gains as Chinese stocks swung into negative territory, driven lower by the escalating Sino-US trade war, though Beijing's efforts to stop sharp declines in the yuan helped support the currency. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.5 per cent, having risen about 1 per cent earlier in the day. Read more

Rupee up 6 paise

Extending its rising streak for the second day, the rupee appreciated by 6 paise against the US dollar to 68.54 in early trade on increased selling of the American currency by exporters and banks amid higher domestic equity market. Read more

Nikkei edges up

Japan's Nikkei share average edged up in a choppy trade but the gains were limited as investors remained cautious ahead of corporate earnings and this week's trade talks between Washington and Tokyo. The Nikkei gained 0.3 per cent to 22,598.26 in midmorning trade swinging between positive and negative territory. Read more

Sensex gainers, losers

The Sensex surged 249.09 points to hit a record high of 37,805.25 and the Nifty jumped 65.35 points to 11,426.15 against 11,360.80 on heavy buying in banking, metal, PSU and consumer durables stocks amid weak global cues.

Fresh buying by DIIs and strengthening of rupee against the dollar also boosted the domestic sentiment.

At 10.30 am, the Sensex was trading higher by 153.41 points or 0.41 per cent at 37,709.57 and the Nifty up 33.05 points or 0.31 per cent at 11,395.65.

Granules India

Over the medium to long term, the company’s changing product mix in favour of the high-margin formulations business, expansion in its API segment and ramp-up in the US should translate into good growth in the coming quarters. Click here to read more

NSE to unveil new logo

NSE may announce a new logo for the exchange on its silver jubilee on August 8. It may also launch a coffee table book that will contain the history of the exchange since its inception, and the various milestones that it has achieved to be among the world’s largest trading venue for equity derivatives. Click here to read more 

M-cap of top-10 Sensex cos jumps Rs 77,785 cr

Five of the 10 most valued Indian companies together added Rs 77,784.85 crore in market valuation last week, with Reliance Industries emerging as the biggest gainer. RIL’s market valuation soared by Rs 30,010.92 crore to Rs 7,45,782.95 crore. Click here to read more

FPI inflows in July

Foreign investors had poured in over Rs 2,300 crore in the Indian capital markets in July, after pulling out funds for three months in a row, largely due to expectations of a lower trade deficit following a correction in crude oil prices. Click here to read more

Get set for late-night trading

Those who like the adrenalin rush from trading in equity markets will soon be able to do this for longer hours. The final contours — the framework that will be adopted, the securities that will be traded in the later part of the day and the settlement mechanism — will be spelt out closer to the implementation, which is slated for October. Click here to read more

Avanti Feeds in revival mode

The stock of Avanti Feeds had gained 6 per cent on Friday, on the back of buying interest. With this rally, the stock had surged 15 per cent, accompanied by good volume last week. Since encountering a key resistance at ₹1,000 in November 2017, the stock has been in an intermediate-term downtrend. Medium-term trend is also down for the stock. Click here to read more

The 30-share BSE index Sensex surged 193.59 points to 37,749.75 against the previous close of 37,556.16 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty gained 47.35 points to 11,408.15 against Friday's close of 11,360.80.

Indices edge higher

Investors will need to watch the unfolding trade-related headlines and crude oil movement, as the US crude oil inventories are to be reported on Wednesday. Further, the US PPI and CPI data slated for release in the latter part of the week can lend direction to the global markets. On the domestic front, the progress of the monsoon, rupee movement and the upcoming IIP and CPI numbers will be in focus. Click here to read more

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