Sensex turns choppy as investors book profits; Nifty slips below 18,500

PTI, Oct 19, 2021, 11:12 AM IST

Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex turned choppy after rallying past the 62,000-mark in the opening trade on Tuesday as investors booked profits at higher levels.

Extending its record-setting run, the 30-share index soared nearly 400 points to touch an all-time high of 62,159.78 in opening deals. It, however, pared early gains in the morning session, as it traded 137.33 points or 0.22 per cent higher at 61,902.92.

Similarly, the Nifty was quoting 20.75 points or 0.11 per cent at 18,497.80. It touched a new intra-day record of 18,604.45 in early deals.

L&T was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 3 per cent, followed by HUL, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, Reliance Industries and Nestle India.

On the other hand, ITC, UltraTech Cement, Titan, Dr Reddy’s and PowerGrid were among the laggards.

In the previous session, the 30-share index ended 459.64 points or 0.75 per cent higher at its new closing record of 61,765.59, and Nifty surged 138.50 points or 0.76 per cent to its all-time closing high 18,477.05.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market, as they purchased shares worth Rs 512.44 crore on Monday, as per exchange data.

According to market experts, investors are booking profits at every peak, adding volatility to the market.

Stock prices in India continued to set fresh records for the sixth successive day. Valuations, particularly in some segments, are clearly dangerously high. PEs above 100 are hard to justify, said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

“When there is a trend reversal in the market, which is inevitable, such pricey stocks are likely to come under bear hammering. Fundamentally sound stocks like the banking majors are still not overvalued. Valuations and quality should be given adequate importance in these exuberant times,” he noted.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo were trading with gains in mid-session deals.

Stock exchanges on Wall Street too ended largely positive in the overnight session.

International oil benchmark Brent crude fell 0.05 per cent to USD 84.29 per barrel. Meanwhile, the domestic currency market was closed on account of the ‘Id-E-Milad’ holiday.