Equity markets were extremely volatile on Tuesday, laced with stock-specific action as the Nifty 50 crossed the coveted 22,000 mark for the first time, hitting its fresh record high of 22,215.60 in intraday trade.
The latest upward trajectory is bolstered by gains in the banking sector, with private banks witnessing a rebound from a recent sharp correction.
The Nifty 50 finally closed 75 points, or 0.34%, higher at 22,196.95. This was the sixth consecutive session of gains for the benchmark index. In these six sessions of gains, Nifty 50 has jumped nearly 3%.
Sensex settled 349.24 points or 0.48% higher to 73,057.40 and Nifty added 74.70 points or 0.34% higher to 22,196.95. Broader markets, however, saw some profit-booking as Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices slipped up to 0.6%.
Over 330 stocks, including NTPC, ONGC, Apollo Hospitals Enterprises, Cipla, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Grasim Industries, Indian Hotels Company, and Zomato hit their fresh 52-week highs in intraday trade.
As many as 27 stocks closed in the green while 22 stocks ended lower. Shares of Power Grid Corporation (up 4.36%), HDFC Bank (up 2.53%) and Axis Bank (up 2.27%) closed as the top gainers in the Nifty 50 index.
Nifty Bank closed with a strong gain of 1.20%. The Private Bank index rose 1.02% while the Nifty PSU Bank index ended flat.
Sectorally, Bank Nifty index gained over a percent to cross 47,000-mark led by HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank.
HDFC Bank’s gains also follows bullish calls from global brokerage firms Citi and Morgan Stanley, which forecast over 40 percent upside from current levels.
With a gain of 2.27%, Nifty Media closed as the top gainer among sectoral indices. Nifty Financial Services rose 1.23%.
On the other hand, Nifty IT fell 0.87%, followed by Nifty Auto which fell 0.62%.
Among Nifty 50, Power Grid was the top gainer, adding 4.36%. HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and NTPC were other gainers rising over 2% each.
Hero MotoCorp was the top loser in the pack, down 3.85%. Bajaj Auto, Eicher Motors, Coal India and Tata Consultancy Services were other losers.
Indian currency ended marginally higher at 82.97 per dollar, as against last close of 83.01 due to minor correction in crude oil prices and financial sector’s uptrend.
On a global perspective, the US treasury yields fell on Tuesday as markets resumed trading activity after President’s holiday. The 10-year US treasury yields fell nearly 1 bps to 4.27%, while 2-year treasury yields lost 4 bps to 4.6%.