A sharp drop in banking stocks following weak results and Coal India's mega offering saw the markets post their biggest drop in three weeks on Friday. Earnings posted by ICICI Bank and Bank of Baroda raised asset quality concerns, spooking banking stocks - which have weight of nearly a third on benchmark indices. Market players said selling pressure accentuated as investors liquidated their positions to invest in the share sale of state-owned Coal India.

The BSE Sensex continued its record setting spree and hit a new peak of 29,844.16 and the NSE Nifty inched towards the 9,000-level in early trade today on robust fund inflows and sustained optimism over the upcoming Budget.

The 30-share index rose by 162.39 points, or 0.54 per cent, to hit a new peak of 29,844.16 (intra-day), breaking its previous record of 29,786.32 touched on January 28.

The benchmark indices hit lifetime highs on Friday after the European Central Bank (ECB) announced a monthly bond-buying programme of 60 billion euros. The BSE benchmark Sensex closed at a record high of 29,278.24 points, while NSE’s Nifty closed above the 8,800-mark. The Sensex ended the week with gains of over 4%.

On Friday, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth $336.66 million worth of shares, while the domestic institutional investors sold shares worth $216 million. In YTD, FIIs have bought $1.2 billion worth of shares.

India’s equity markets on Wednesday registered new record highs for a consecutive day, led by strong buying from foreign investors. The benchmark BSE Sensex gained 104.19 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 28,888.86, while the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty added 33.9 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 8,729.5.

The indices advanced despite shares of top-weight ITC ending five per cent lower, making 123-point negative contribution to the index. ITC’s rival Hindustan Unilever gained five per cent and was the biggest gainer on the Sensex, followed by Bharti Airtel (four per cent) and HDFC (2.7 per cent).

The BSE Sensex breached the 28,900-mark and the NSE Nifty touched a new peak of 8,730.45 in early trade on Wednesday on sustained fund inflows, driven by the encouraging corporate earnings coupled with pre-budget optimism among participants.

Rising for the fifth straight day, the 30-share index rose by 155.25 points, or 0.53 per cent, to hit a new peak of 28,939.92.

Adani Enterprises is trading higher by 3% at Rs 519 on National Stock Exchange (NSE) in otherwise subdued market after the company has tied up with Australia's Woodside Energy to source liquefied natural gas (LNG), and for oil & gas exploration and production opportunities.

Adani Enterprises has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Australian energy major Woodside Energy for cooperation for exploring business opportunities across a broad spectrum in oil and gas sector in India, as part of the Vibrant Gujarat initiative, the company said in a statement.

Benchmark share indices came off their early highs amid profit taking in select index heavyweights even as Tata Group shares continued to trade higher.

At 10:30AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 193 points at 27,468 after hitting an intra-day high of 27,508 and the 50-share Nifty was up 55 points at 8,290 after touching 8,303 in early trades.

Larsen and Toubro (L&T) is trading higher by 2% at Rs 1,570 on NSE after the company said it has won orders worth of Rs 4,006 crore in the month of December 2014.

The construction arm of L&T has won orders worth Rs 4,006 crore across various business segments in the month of December’14 in both the domestic and international markets, L&T said in a statement.

IDBI Bank has gained around 2% to Rs 72.55 in BSE after receiving approval from its Board of Directors to divest its stake in Credit Analysis & Research (CARE).

The Bank can now sell its shareholding of 48,18,292 equity shares in CARE in part or whole, subject to compliance with all applicable laws, regulations and guidelines. The propose sale of shares would be made in one or more tranches, according to IDBI's statement to BSE.

Markets are likely to open higher tracking gains in their Asian peers. However, some volatility may be expected later in the session as traders will remain cautious in a truncated week ahead of the F&O expiry on Wednesday.

For cues investors will also watch the US jobless data which is to be released later this week.

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