Sensex, Nifty scale new intra–day highs, end flat

Mumbai, January 28: Positive global and domestic cues led the two major indices of the Indian equities markets to scale new highs in Wednesday’s intra–day trade. However, the two major indices closed the day’s trade flat on the back of profit–booking. The 30–scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) touched a new high of 29,786.32 points in the intra–day trade Wednesday — surpassing its previous high of 29,618.59 points touched only the previous day.

The Sensex, however, closed the day’s trade flat. It ended 11.86 points or 0.04 percent down at 29,559.18 points. The wider 50–scrip Nifty of the tiol Stock Exchange (NSE) too scaled a new high in the day’s trade. It touched 8,985.05 points during the intra–day trade surpassing its previous record of 8,925.05 points reached on Tuesday. Nifty also closed the day’s trade flat. It ended 3.80 points or 0.04 percent up at 8,914.30 points.

The S&P BSE Sensex, which opened at 29,565.72 points, closed the day’s trade at 29,559.18 points — down 11.86 points or 0.04 percent from the previous day’s close at 29,571.04 points. The Sensex touched a high of 29,786.32 points and a low of 29,417.67 points in intra–day trade.

“Over the near term as ECB QE adds strength to commodity prices and improve world economy, India can move ahead as budget provides higher confidence,” said Vinod ir, head–fundamental research, Geojit BNP Paribas Fincial Services. On the BSE, healthy buying was observed in consumer durables, oil and gas and information technology (IT) sectors, while capital goods, metal and automobile stocks came under selling pressure. The S&P BSE consumer durables index gained by 474.51 points, oil and gas index surged by 147.09 points and IT index was up 110.54 points.

However, capital goods index plunged 251.37 points, metal index went down by 148.94 points and automobile index was lower by 146.15 points. The major Sensex gainers were HDFC, up 2.21 percent at Rs.1,344.70; Reliance Industries, up 1.92 percent at Rs.905.85; Wipro, up 1.48 percent at Rs.606.70; State Bank of India (SBI), up 1.41 percent at Rs.334.45; and ONGC, up 1.27 percent at Rs.354.10.

The losers were Bharti Airtel, down 4.99 percent at Rs.373.75; Sesa Sterlite, down 2.90 percent at Rs.200.80; Tata Motors, down 2.64 percent at Rs.589.15; Larsen and Toubro (L&T), down 2.51 percent at Rs.1,697.65; and Tata Steel, down 1.80 percent at Rs.390.90.  (IANS)