Sensex, Nifty close at all-time high as PSU banks stocks surge

Mumbai: Benchmark Sensex breached the 33,000-mark for the first time, while the Nifty ended at a fresh life high on Wednesday after the government’s Rs9 trillion package lit up banking and infra stocks. The 30-share Sensex surged 435.16 points, or 1.33%—its biggest single session gain since 25 May when it had surged 448.39 points—to close at a new peak of 33,042.50. The broader 50-share Nifty finished at its fresh lifetime high of 10,295.35, up by 87.65 points, or 0.86%.

Banking and infra counters led the charge after the government on Tuesday announced various measures to spur the economy, including a Rs2.11 trillion recapitalisation plan for public sector banks and a massive Rs6.92 trillion road building programme.

Banking behemoth State Bank of India (SBI) zoomed 27.58% to emerge as the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, while private peers ICICI Bank and Axis Bank soared up to 14.69%. Other prominent gainers in the state-run banking space were Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Allahabad Bank, IDBI Bank and Syndicate Bank, rising by up to 46.20%.

Major road builders such as Ashoka Buildcon, Sadbhav Infrastructure Projects and J Kumar Infraprojects also gained up to 8.71%.

“Government’s recapitalisation plan sparked astonishingly steep gains in PSBs, while short covering ahead of F&O expiry also added momentum. Giddy levels though saw profit booking in sectors other than banks, as investors continued to mix and match the earnings and valuations with more key earnings still to play out,” said Anand James, chief market strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Despite profit-booking at record levels, it finished at a new peak of 33,042.50, up 435.16 points, or 1.33%. It smashed its previous record closing of 32,633.64 reached on 16 October. After a gap up opening, the Sensex crossed the 33,000- mark for the first time to scale an all-time high of 33,117.33 in early trade on the back of run-up in PSU banks and heavy short-covering ahead of tomorrow’s October month expiry in the derivatives segment.

The broader Nifty also hit a record intra-day high of 10,340.55 during the session, before finally concluding at 10,295.35, up 87.65 points, or 0.86%. It bettered its previous record closing of 10,234.45 reached on 17 October 17.

Firmness in Asian stocks and unabated buying by domestic institutional investors also provided key support. Optimism over better-than-expected second-quarter earnings by some bluechip companies also fuelled the bull-run, brokers said. Sentiment also remained upbeat on persistent buying by domestic institutional investors, who bought shares worth Rs592.28 crore on Tuesday. Foreign portfolio investors sold to the tune of Rs1,306.76 crore, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

Among sectoral indices, PSU rose the most by surging 8.07%, followed by bankex 4.71%, capital goods 3.33%, infrastructure 2.23%, power 1.15%, auto 0.63% and teck 0.54%. The broader markets were mixed, with midcap index rising 0.42%, while smallcap index shed 0.19%.

Other gainers were L&T, Bharti Airtel, Adani Ports, Tata Motors, M&M, Infosys, Wipro, ITC Ltd, NTPC, Bajaj Auto, Reliance Industries, ONGC, Hero MotoCorp, Hindustan Unilever and Power Grid, rising up to 5.65%.

Overseas, Asian bourses displayed a mixed trend, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rising 0.51%, Shanghai Composite gaining 0.26% while Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.45%. In the Eurozone, Paris CAC 40 rose 0.18%, while Frankfurt’s DAX was up 0.16% in late morning trade. London’s FTSE fell 0.08%.