Benchmark indices shy of their new record highs; rally in IT, FMCG

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Nifty and Sensex ended just shy of their new record highs on Monday after the IT and FMCG index saw a sharp rally.

At close, the Sensex was up 0.56% at 79,476 and the Nifty was up 0.55% at 24,142.

After a flat start, the market gained strength, with Nifty crossing 24,150 and inched closer to record levels of 24,174 led by buying across the sectors barring power, PSU banks, and realty.

Sensex opened at a record high of 77,543.22, created a fresh all-time high of 77,851.63. But the 30-stock index also touched a low of 76,954.87, as traders booked profit at record high levels.

Nifty 50 opened at a record high of 23,629.85, touched another record high at 23,664.00, before fallling into the red as investors booked profit.

On Sensex, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Infosys, TCS and Bajaj Finance emerged as the top contributors to the gain.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices hit fresh record highs of 46,711.27 and 52,981.03, respectively, during the session.

BSE Midcap index ended 1.11 per cent higher at 46,670.66, and the Smallcap index settled with a gain of 1.58% at 52,951.73.

The overall market capitalisation of the firms listed on the BSE rose to nearly Rs 443.1 lakh crore from nearly Rs 439.2 lakh crore in the previous session.

On Nifty50, the top gainers were Tech Mahindra (2.98%), Wipro (2.40%) and Bajaj Finance (2.06%). On the losing side were NTPC (2.06%), Eicher Motors (0.92%) and Apollo Hospital (0.82%).

For Nifty IT index, June emerged as the standout month, significantly boosting the index into positive territory. In the first half of the current year, it saw a modest increase of 1.81 per cent, marked by three months of negative performance.

Among the sectors, all closed with gains, except for Nifty PSU Bank (0.76%) and Realty (0.33%). Nifty Media was up 2.42% and IT was up 1.97%.

Shares of Zomato rose 2% to Rs 204 apiece, approaching their 52-week high of Rs 207 amid heavy trading volumes. This uptick follows reports that Zomato is set to enter derivatives trading and join the NSE Nifty 50 index.

So far on July 1, around four crore shares of Zomato changed hands on both BSE and NSE.

On the global parameter, major European markets traded in the green when the Sensex closed.

France’s CAC 40 jumped nearly 3% briefly during the session as political uncertainty eased to a fair extent after the far-right party led in the first-round legislative elections.