Sensex, Nifty Snap Seven-Day Record-Breaking Streak On Profit Booking

The equity  the benchmarks snapped their seven-day record breaking steak as investors booked profits at all-time highs in recent outperforming shares such as Infosys, Axis Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance and Kotak Mahindra Bank. During the day, the Sensex rose as much as 256 points to hit an all-time high of 58,553.07 and Nifty 50 index touched record high of 17,436.50. The markets, however, surrendered all their gains to end in the negative due to profit-booking at higher levels. The Sensex ended 17 points lower at 58,279 and Nifty 50 index slipped 16 points to close at 17,362.

“The market witnessed some volatile movements and an attempt to hold the Nifty level of 17,300. If the market sustains above the level of 17,200-17,250, it is expected to gain momentum, leading to an upside projection till 17,400-17,450,” Ashis Biswas, head of technical research at CapitalVia Global Research said.

Thirteen of 19 sector gauges compiled by the BSE ended lower, led by the S&P BSE Realty index’s over 2 per cent decline. Oil & Gas, Utilities, Information Technology, Healthcare, Banking and Capital Goods indices also fell 0.5-1 per cent each.

On the other hand, Telecom and Consumer Durables shares saw buying interest.

Mid- and small-cap shares witnessed profit booking at record highs, declining 0.23 and 0.42 per cent respectively.

Among individual shares, shares of tractor and farm equipment maker, VST Tiller Tractors, rose as much as 9.3 per cent to hit a record high of Rs 2,890 after the company post market hours on Monday informed exchanges that it has launched a range of tractors and power tillers in Southern African countries.

IRCTC jumped nearly 10 per cent to hit record high of Rs 3,297.90 on the back of heavy trading volumes.

Axis Bank was the top Nifty loser; the stock fell 1.65 per cent to close at Rs 787. Wipro, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Eicher Motors, ONGC, Tata Steel, Tata Motors and Hero MotoCorp were also among the losers.

On the flipside, Bharti Airtel, Grasim, ITC, HDFC, IndusInd Bank, UltraTech Cement, Reliance Industries, Shree Cements and Asian Paints were among the gainers.