Sensex, Nifty and Nifty Bank hit fresh lifetime high

The domestic equity market continued its dream run on Monday with Sensex, Nifty50 and Nifty Bank indices closing at fresh all-time high.

BSE Sensex ended at 32,514, up 205 points or 0.63 per cent, while Nifty50 closed at 10,077.10, up 0.63 per cent or 63 points. BSE Sensex opened at 32,412.20 and touched an intraday high and low of 32,546.50 and 32,324 respectively.

Shares of SBI (up 4.41 per cent), Power Grid (4.32 per cent) and Tata Steel (up 3.02 per cent) were the top gainers on the index. On the other hand, Sun Pharma (down 3.59 per cent), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (down 3.41 per cent) and Lupin (down 3.08 per cent) capped gains.

“Sentiment was upbeat from the beginning and rotational buying especially in rate sensitive pack viz. banking, financials, auto and realty kept the momentum going till the end. However, selective buying was witnessed on broader front which result in flat market breadth,” said Jayant Manglik, President, Retail Distribution, Religare Securities.

BSE Midcap index gained 60 points or 0.39 per cent to end at 15,389.57 with shares of Torrent Pharma, Shriram Transport Finance, Crompton and L&T Finance Holdings surging up to 5 per cent.

Meanwhile, smallcaps stocks such as Rai Saheb Rekh Chand Mohota,Control Print, Tirumal Chemicals, Syncom Formulations India and Pratibha surged over 10 per cent, causing the BSE Smallcap index to gain 0.14 per cent or 22 points at 16,093.56.

Nifty Bank breached 25,000 level and ended the day at 25,103.65, its record high level as banking stocks hogged the limelight ahead of RBI policy meet scheduled for August 2-3, 2017.

Meanwhile SBI supported the rally, as it cut interest on savings account. In a BSE filing, the bank said that savings accounts with a balance above Rs 1 crore would continue to earn interest at 4 per cent per annum; however, accounts of Rs 1 crore or below would fetch an interest of 3.5 per cent per annum.

Barring BSE Healthcare (down 1.52 per cent), BSE FMCG (down 0.99 per cent) and BSE Telecom marginally down at 0.08 per cent, all sectoral indices ended the session in green.

Among specific stocks, shares of Dr Reddy's Laboratories fell in Monday's trade, taking its losing streak to a third consecutive session. The stock closed at Rs 2,385.50, down 3.11 per cent.

Looking at Q1 results, Shree Cement (up 6.62 per cent) reported 13.30 per cent decline in standalone net profit at Rs 440.11 crore for first quarter ended June 30, on account of higher expenses. However, total income during the quarter under review rose by 16.74 per cent to Rs 2,995.23 crore as against Rs 2,565.70 crore during the same quarter in 2016-17.

Meanwhile, FMCG firm Godrej Consumer Products (down 2.02 per cent) reported an 8.70 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 225.17 crore due to tepid sales on GST and higher expenses.

Globally, China's CSI300 index gained 0.5 per cent, to 3,740.85 points while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.6 per cent, to 3,272.24 points, its highest in three and half months.

Japan's Nikkei fell 0.2 per cent to 19,925.18, its lowest close since June 15. For the month, the Nikkei shed 0.5 percent, snapping a three-month winning streak, Reuters reported.

In commodity space, oil prices hit a two-month high, lifted by a tightening US crude market and the threat of sanctions against OPEC-member Venezuela. Brent crude futures were at $52.85 per barrel, up 33 cents or 0.6 per cent.

In the domestic market, Cardamom which is widely used in sweets and confectionary has breached the Rs 1,000 per kg mark again. Earlier this year, prices had reached a high of Rs 1,400 per kg.