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New Delhi: Indian benchmark equity indices scaled fresh highs on Wednesday led by strong gains in financial stocks amid a positive trend in global markets.

Sensex rallied 546 points to finish above the 54,000-mark for the first time. After scaling its lifetime peak of 54,465.91 during the session, the 30-share index ended 546.41 points or 1.02% higher at a record 54,369.77. Similarly, the NSE Nifty climbed 128.05 points or 0.79% to its all-time peak of 16,258.80. The 50-share index touched a lifetime intra-day high of 16,290.20.

Gainers and laggards

HDFC was the top Sensex gainer, surging around 5%, followed by Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank. On the other hand, Titan, Nestle India, Ultratech Cement and Sun Pharma were among the laggards.

Shares of SBI, country’s largest lender closed 2.4% higher. SBI posted 55% rise in standalone net profit at Rs 6,504 crore for the first quarter of the current financial year, helped by decline in bad loans.

Sectoral strand

Most sectoral indices closed in the red, while bank and financials ended the day higher. Nifty Financial Services, adding over 2% was the top sectoral gainer followed by Nifty Bank and Nifty Pvt Bank. Nifty Auto and Nifty FMCG, on the other hand lost nearly 1% each.

Market breadth was negative as 2,119 stocks declined on the BSE, while 1,137 advanced and 116 remained unchanged.

Expert view

S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP securities said that bulls were in complete control as indices rose a percentage led by largecaps and financials even as midcaps went through a corrective phase today after many months of outperformance. The thumping retail response on the first day itself in the IPO of the foursome seems to have had a cool-off effect on the broader markets today.

S Hariharan, head-sales trading, Emkay Global Financial Services said, “Nifty is trading close to technical resistance from a trendline connecting earlier highs in CY2021 (Feb and Jun) – seen in conjunction with non-confirmation of strength in midcap and smallcap indices, which had hitherto been outperforming headline indices, this suggests a narrow advance and potential for a short-term pull-back. Long futures open interest for the retail segment has seen some unwinding over the last week and net long positions are down to mid-Jun levels. This was also evident in cheap roll spreads during July expiry, and points to reluctance to extend leverage on long positions. High-beta sectors appear most vulnerable to a correction in the near-term.’’

Global markets

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul ended with gains, while Tokyo was in the red. Equities in Europe were also in the green in afternoon trade. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude advanced 0.18 per cent to USD 72.28 per barrel.