D-Street bulls continue run for 8th session; Sensex, Nifty end at all-time highs

The domestic benchmark indices continued their outperformance for the 8th straight session with both Sensex and Nifty ending at fresh closing highs on hopes of less aggressive rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve.

The 30-share pack Sensex advanced 184 points to end at 63,284, while its broader peer Nifty50 ended above the 18,800 mark after touching a new peak of 18,888 in intra-day trade.

Gains were led by the banking and IT stocks.

From the 30-share pack, UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Wipro and Infosys were the top gainers, rising around 1.5-3% each. HCL Tech, L&T, SBI, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank, and IndusInd Bank also closed above the flatline.

On the other hand, ICICI Bank, M&M, Power Grid, Kotak Bank, HUL, Titan, Maruti, and Reliance ended the session with cuts.
Sectorally, Nifty IT rose 2.40% and Nifty PSU Bank surged 2.11%, while Nifty Realty and Nifty Metal also closed higher. In the broader market, Nifty Midcap50 advanced 0.86% and Smallcap50 rose 0.57%.

“Expansion in the hourly and the daily upper Bollinger Bands is supporting the price action on the way up. The overall structure shows that the index can continue with the uptrend and head towards the short term target of 19000. On the other hand, the zone of 18700-18600 will act as a support as per the principle of role reversal,” Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Head of Technical Research at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas, said.

Earlier in Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.92%, China’s Shanghai Composite increased 0.45% and South Korea’s Kospi surged 0.30%.

The Indian rupee ended stronger against the US dollar as global markets were buoyed by the Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments that were less hawkish than expected. The rupee closed at 81.21 per US dollar, against its previous close of 81.42, while the Brent crude February futures rose 0.69% to $87.57 per barrel.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of bulls as about 2,074 stocks gained, 1,412 declined and 150 remained unchanged. The market capitalisation of all listed companies on BSE increased by Rs 1.36 lakh crore to Rs 289.86 lakh crore.