Mumbai: Indian shares closed higher on Wednesday led by financial and banking stocks, hitting an all-time high after State Bank of India reported a record quarterly profit by the country’s largest lender.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rose 1% to 54,369.77, rising for the third straight session, while the NSE Nifty 50 index, which represents a weighted average of the 50 largest Indian companies on the NSE, rose 0.79% to end at 16,258.80. Happened.
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The banking and financial sector lifted the market. The Nifty Bank index, which had lost over 3% in the last two weeks, recovered today with a gain of 1%. While Nifty Bank rose 2.33%, Nifty Financial Services rose 2.59%.
Top gainers in the Sensex pack included HDFC, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, rising up to 4.77%, while Titan, Nestle India, Ultra Chemco, Sun Pharma, Maruti and Bharti Airtel were among the top gainers. Major losers fell up to 2.14%.
According to analysts, several states announced relaxations in the Covid-induced lockdown, raising hopes that the domestic economy may recover from the impact of the second wave sooner than expected.
Besides, the critical psychological breakout of 16,000-level of blue-chip Nifty 50 index boosted investor sentiment and attracted new buyers in the market.
S Hariharan, Head of Sales Trading, Emkay Global Financial Services, said, “Nifty is trading close to technical resistance from the trendline connecting the earlier highs in CY2021 (February & June) – not confirming strength in the middle. Viewed in conjunction with -cap and small-cap indices, which were hitherto out-performing headline indices, this suggests a narrow advance and potential for short-term pull-backs.”
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After posting the highest quarterly profit, SBI shares on the BSE closed 2.37% higher at Rs 457.05 before touching its 52-week high of Rs 467.3 in a firm Mumbai market on Wednesday afternoon, valuing the lender at Rs 4,07,899 crore. Was.
“Long futures open interest for the retail segment has seen some unwinding over the past week and net long positions are down to mid-June levels; this was also evident in the cheaper roll spreads during the end of July, and Points to a reluctance to extend leverage. Situation. High-beta areas appear most vulnerable to a correction in the near term,” Mr. Hariharan said.
Investors are also anticipating a decision by the Reserve Bank of India, which begins its three-day monetary policy meeting on Wednesday and is expected to leave interest rates at record lows for the seventh time in a row on Friday. Markets are watching the upcoming liquidity measures of the central bank.
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