Sensex, Nifty touch new highs, consumer durables rise

Positive cues ahead of a possible European Central Bank (ECB) stimulus led the two benchmark indices of Indian equities market to touch new highs in intra-day trade Wednesday.

The barometer index of the Indian equities market, the S&P BSE Sensex, touched a new high of 28,958.10 in intra-day trade, crossing its previous record high of 28,829.29 points reached Tuesday.

The Sensex, which opened at 28,843.09 points, closed trading at 28,888.86 points, up 104.19 points or 0.36 percent from the previous day's close at 28,784.67 points. The Sensex touched a high of 28,958.10 points and a low of 28,792.57 points in the intra-day trade.

"Given the recent rally ahead of ECB meet tomorrow, Greece vote and FED-rate decision, we should be cautious and brace for volatility as decision is digested. As global concerns are handled, India can look ahead for new reforms and budget expectation," said Vinod Nair, head-fundamental research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

The general budget would be presented in Parliament Feb 28, it was announced. Healthy buying was observed in consumer durables, capital goods, information technology (IT), banking and technology, entertainment and media (TECK) sectors, while fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), oil and gas and reality scrip came under selling pressure.

The Sensex touched a high of 28,958.10 points and a low of 28,792.57 points in the intra-day trade. The markets had rallied 522.66 points or 1.85 percent and closed at 28,784.67 points in Tuesday's trade. The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) closed at 28,262.01 points on Monday.

"Today again, the market players have preferred to invest in core economy related sectors like PSU banks, oil and gas stocks and finally capital goods and infra stocks," said Shrikant Chouhan, head- technical research, Kotak Securities. 

"It was more stock specific concentrated market rather than broad based. Unexpected support from HUl and Hero Motors has helped the market to sustain above the level of (Nifty) 8,700 points." 

The S&P consumer durables index surged by 144.36 points, capital goods index was up 144.05 points, IT index gained 106.29 points, banking index moved up by 87.73 points and TECK index was higher by 70.86 points. However, the FMCG index was down 58.21 points, oil and gas index was lower by 9.55 points, and reality index slipped 3.64 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too reached a new record high of 8,741.85 points in the intra-day trade, crossing its previous high of 8,707.90 points reached Tuesday. It ended the day's trade up 33.90 points or 0.39 percent at 8,729.50 points.

The major Sensex gainers were Hindustan Unilever, up 4.99 percent at Rs.940.40; Bharti Airtel, up 3.96 percent at Rs.369.05; HDFC, up 2.71 percent at Rs.1,284.35; State Bank of India (SBI), up 2.45 percent at Rs.325.85; and Coal India, up 2.33 percent at Rs.390.65.

The losers were ITC, down 5.01 percent at Rs.352.60; Cipla, down 2.37 percent at Rs.643; Sesa Sterlite, down 2.01 percent at Rs.199.40; Tata Motors, down 1.38 percent at Rs.551.40; and Tata Steel, down 1.28 percent at Rs.396.95.