Sensex at record high, jumps 530 points

Monday turned out to be a fabulous day of trade for Indian equity benchmarks, where the frontline gauges garnered gains of over a percent, tracking global peers on optimism about the US-China trade developments. The Sensex ended at record closing high while the Nifty just 30 points away from its all-time high.

The markets traded on a positive note since the beginning, taking support from data, showing that investments through participatory notes (P-notes) in the Indian capital market marginally rose to Rs. 76,773 crores at the end of October after declining for four consecutive months. The markets also drew some comfort with a survey by the National Statistical Office (NSO), which showed the urban unemployment rate dropped to the lowest level in four quarters at 9.3 per cent during January-March 2019. 

Key indices continued their rally mood to reach a day’s high points in dying hour of trade as sentiments on the street improved further with the statement of Piyush Goyal, the Commerce and Industry Minister, where he stated that the reform momentum towards self-certification, labor laws, and environment clearance will boost investment and production. Traders also took note of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that India did not join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) as the offer was not as much as our aspirations.

The BSE Sensex ended at 40,889.23, up by 529.82 points or 1.31 per cent after trading in a range of 40,393.90 and 40,931.71. 29 stocks were advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index. The broader indices ended in green, the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.19 per cent, and the Small cap index was up by 0.83 per cent.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom up by 7.29 per cent, Metal up by 3.12 per cent, Realty up by 2.07 per cent, Basic Materials up by 1.94 per cent, and Auto up by 1.90 per cent, while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 7.20 per cent, Tata Steel up by 4.99 per cent, Indusind Bank up by 3.49 per cent, Axis Bank up by 3.10 per cent and Vedanta up by 2.74 per cent. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.17 per cent and Yes Bank down by 1.70 per cent were the two main losers.