By Bharath Rajeswaran
BENGALURU (Reuters) -India’s Nifty 50 and Sensex stock indexes advanced on Monday and inched towards fresh record highs, aided by broad-based gains, while broader peers extended their rally to record levels.
The blue-chip Nifty index was up 0.05% at 18,835.55 as of 10:10 a.m. IST, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.04% to 63,411.90.
The Nifty 50 came within 10 points of the previous record high of 18,887.60.
Nine of the 13 major sectoral indexes advanced with high weightage financials rising 0.2%.
Broader indexes outperformed their larger peers, with midcaps rising over 0.6% to a fresh record high and smallcaps hitting an over one-year high.
Meanwhile, global equities were mostly lower on caution ahead of China’s rate decision on Tuesday and U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Powell’s congressional testimony on Wednesday and Thursday. [MKTS/GLOB]
Analysts expect the rally in Indian markets to sustain, after a period of consolidation. “The indications are in favour of the prevailing tone to continue,” said Ajit Mishra, senior vice president, technical research at Religare Broking.
“We are eyeing the 19,100 mark in Nifty and expect 18,400-18,550 zone to offer a cushion in case of profit taking.”
Among individual stocks, Jindal Steel and Power jumped 5% after Kotak Insitutional Equities upgraded it to “buy” and raised target price to 740 rupees from 580 rupees.
Non-banking financial companies like Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv rose over 2% each after several brokerages including Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and HSBC reiterated a positive view on the sector.
On the other hand, Hero MotoCorp lost 2% and was the top Nifty 50 loser. The two-wheeler maker’s shares have fallen for four sessions in a row on a probe by the country’s corporate affairs ministry into alleged diversion of funds.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Varun H K)
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