Nifty ends at new closing peak of 15,436; Sensex adds 308 points; RIL soars 6%
Bulls ruled on Dalal Street on Friday, the first day of the June F&O series, as a trinity of steady decline in Covid-19 cases, the announcement of unlock in the national capital, and $6 trillion fiscal stimulus in the US held up investor confidence.
The benchmark Nifty index scaled a fresh record peak of 15,469.6 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) today, surpassing its previous record peak of 15,432 hit on February 16. The index traded higher for the sixth consecutive session as India recorded its lowest daily count of new Covid-19 cases in 44 days. The country, on Thursday, logged 186,364 fresh virus cases while death remained above 3,500-mark.
Add to it, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced earlier on Friday that the national capital will begin to unlock from Monday and said that construction activities and factories will be reopened from May 31.
Reading these developments as the first step towards a gradual uptick in economic activities, benchmark indices zoomed to day’s high of 51,529 on the S&P BSE Sensex and record peak on the Nifty. By the close, the Sensex index was quoting at 51,423 levels, up 308 points or 0.6 per cent while the Nifty50 was at 15,436-mark, up 98 points or 0.64 per cent.
Reliance Industries was the biggest contributor towards the indices’ rally today after the stock clocked its sharpest intra-day rally in two months and zoomed 6.4 per cent. The stock, which settled 5.8 per cent higher on the BSE, looks firm on both, fundamental and technical, grounds. Analysts at Jefferies maintained their ‘buy’ rating on the counter with a target of Rs 2,580 per share. READ MORE
That apart, Grasim, Adani Ports, M&M, Eicher Motors, Coal India, HDFC, Kotak Bank, and IndusInd Bank remained the top gainers of the day, up between 1 per cent and 3 per cent. On the downside, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, PowerGrid, Shree Cement, and Nestle India were the top laggards, down up to 4.5 per cent.
Broader markets, however, settled the day in the red on the back of profit-booking. The BSE Midcap index fell 0.12 per cent and the BSE SmallCap index dropped 0.48 per cent.
In terms of sectoral participation, the Nifty PSU Bank index gained 0.7 per cent, followed by the Nifty Private Bank index, up 0.3 per cent. On the contrary, the Nifty Pharma index slipped 1.2 per cent on the NSE.