Sensex rallies over 300 pts; Nifty near 18,100 level

PTI, Oct 13, 2021, 10:14 AM IST

Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex rallied over 300 points in opening trade to hit a fresh lifetime high on Tuesday, tracking gains in index heavyweights ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and M&M despite a weak trend in global markets.

After touching a record of 60,621.72, the 30-share Sensex was trading 261.17 points or 0.43 per cent higher at 60,545.48. Similarly, the Nifty surged 97.75 points or 0.54 per cent to a new intra-day peak of 18,089.70.

M&M was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying over 3 per cent, followed by PowerGrid, Bharti Airtel, L&T, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.

On the other hand, Nestle India, HUL, HCL Tech, SBI and Tata Steel were among the laggards.

In the previous session, the 30-share index ended 148.53 points or 0.25 per cent higher at record 60,284.31, and Nifty rose 46 points or 0.26 per cent to its fresh closing peak of 17,991.95.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 278.32 crore on Tuesday, as per exchange data.

Domestic equities look to be good as of now, said Binod Modi Head-Strategy at Reliance Securities.

“Sharp contraction in CPI print at 4.35 per cent for September despite elevated oil prices and sustained IIP growth (11.5 per cent growth for August) certainly offer comfort. We also believe that 2QFY22 corporate earnings are going to be quite crucial for the market,” he stated.

Retail inflation fell to a five-month low of 4.35 per cent in September from 7.27 per cent in the year-ago period as prices of vegetables and other items declined.

Industrial production grew 11.9 per cent in August mainly due to a low-base effect and good performance by manufacturing, mining and power sectors that surpassed the pre-COVID level.

In the US, the equity market contracted for the third consecutive day in a choppy trading day ahead of crucial inflation data and September quarter earnings.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai and Tokyo were trading with losses in mid-session deals, while Seoul was positive.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude fell 0.31 per cent to USD 83.16 per barrel.