Sensex up 168 points intraday, Nifty moves past 17,300

Benchmark indices were trading with marginal gains during the afternoon on Monday on sustained buying in index heavyweights.

The market maintained its bullish momentum amid firm global cues and positive domestic economic data as benchmark indices recorded fresh highs during the morning trade. The rally was led majorly by gains in heavyweights such as RIL, which also witnessed fresh highs. Financials witnessed profit-booking.

At 1 pm, the BSE Sensex was ruling at 58,298.34, up 168.39 points or 0.29 per cent after recording a fresh all-time high of 58,515.85. It hit an intraday low of 58,200.29. The Nifty 50, which recorded a new high of 17,429.55, was trading at 17,369.90, up 46.30 points or 0.27 per cent. It recorded an intraday low of 17,345.55.

Read also: SGX Nifty signals bullish momentum to sustain

However, the NSE Volatility index rises 4 per cent and moves past the psychological 15 per cent. The volatility index is currently ruling at 15.13.

According to VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, "Some negative economic news is likely to turn out to be positive for markets in the very short-term. The US jobs data - only 2.35 lakh jobs added in August against the expectation of above seven lakhs - support the Fed's claim that "there is much more ground to cover" before rates are revised upwards."

"So, even tapering expected by this year-end is likely to be a 'taper without tantrum'. The dollar index hovering around 92.16 is likely to support fresh FII inflows. This, along with sustained DII investment and active retail buying, can impart resilience to the market even at high valuations. Fresh highs are likely driven by the strong uptrend in RIL and renewed buying in banking stocks," added Dr Vijayakumar.

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Eicher Motors, Reliance, Cipla, Wipro and Grasim were the top gainers on the Nifty 50, while IOC, ONGC, Britannia, JSW Steel and Coal India were the top laggards.

RIL stock has continued its rally on a slew of positive business news. It was trading 2.20 per cent higher on the NSE after recording a fresh 52-week high of ₹2,480.

Financials, barring PSU Bank under pressure

On the sectoral front, while financials, barring PSU Bank, witnessed profit-booking, realty, auto, consumer durables, and PSU Bank gained. FMCG stocks also dragged.

Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services were down 0.20 per cent and 0.14 per cent, respectively. Nifty Private Bank was down 0.23 per cent. Nifty FMCG was down 0.07 per cent.

Meanwhile, Nifty Realty was up 1.69 per cent. Nifty Auto was up 0.66 per cent. Nifty PSU Bank was up 0.68 per cent, while Nifty Consumer Durables was up 0.51 per cent.

Broader indices 

Broader indices were also trading higher.

Nifty Midcap 50 was up 0.59 per cent, while Nifty Smallcap 50 was up 1.21 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap was up 0.42 per cent, while the S&P BSE Smallcap was up 0.64 per cent.

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