MUMBAI Sensex and Nifty Take a Breather After Record Highs
After a four-day rally, both the sensex and Nifty took a pause in Friday’s session. Despite hitting new highs earlier in the day, profit booking in banking and IT stocks led to a slight decline in both indices by the end of the trading day.
The sensex closed at 79,033, down by 210 points after touching a new high of 79,672 earlier. Similarly, Nifty, which reached a new life-high of 24,174 during the session, ended 34 points lower at 24,010.
Despite the dip, both indices managed to stay above the psychological levels of 79,000 and 24,000, mainly due to a strong rally in Reliance Industries. Reliance shares surged 2.2% to a record high on Friday following a tariff revision by its telecom arm.
“Profit-taking in banking stocks contributed to the decline in key benchmark indices which had initially shown optimism in the morning,” said Prashanth Tapse, senior VP (research) at Mehta Equities. He also added, “Renewed FII buying and Indian govt bonds’ inclusion in JP Morgan EM bond index triggered a major rally this week. However, with higher valuations and no change in interest rate stance, the market could become volatile again as investors might choose to book profits periodically.”
The recovery in Indian markets in June can be credited to foreign portfolio investors, who bought $2.3 billion in shares during the month, ending a two-month selling streak. Among the top losers in the sensex were IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, and Kotak Bank, while besides Reliance, Tata Motors, Asian Paints, and Nestle were among the gainers.
