Taking Stock: Sensex, Nifty close at new highs, all eyes on RBI policy

 Taking Stock: Sensex, Nifty close at new highs, all eyes on RBI policy

 The Sensex and Nifty also hit fresh all-time highs of 74,501.73 and 22,619 early in the day but pared some of the gains as the session progressed.

The Indian benchmark indices climbed to record highs, squandered some of the gains but still managed to close in the green in a volatile session of trade on April 4, a day ahead of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) policy announcement.

The Sensex ended 350.81 points, or 0.47 percent, higher at 74,227.63 and the Nifty 80 points, or 0.36 percent, at 22,514.70, their best close ever

Market started the session gap-up at record highs with the Sensex hitting 74,501.73 and the Nifty 22,619 but they erased the gains in the initial hours to gyrate between gains and losses throughout the session.

Top Nifty gainers were HDFC Bank, Eicher Motors, Asian Paints, Tech Mahindra and Titan Company, while losers were ONGC, Shriram Finance, Adani Ports, BPCL and Bharti Airtel.

Among sectors, bank, power, information technology were up 0.5-1 percent, while the PSU bank and oil & gas index were down 0.7-1.6 percent.

The BSE midcap index ended flat, while the smallcap index added 0.5 percent.

Among individual stocks, a volume spike of more than 300 percent was seen in Dabur India, Ipca Lab, Exide Industries.

A long build-up was seen in Ipca Lab, Vedanta and Bandhan Bank, while a short build-up was seen in Dabur India, Colgate Palmolive and HPCL.

More than 200 stocks touched thier 52-week high including Aditya Birla Capital, Adani Power, Ajmera Realty, Anup Enginerring, Avenue Supermarts, Canara Bank, GE Power India, Genesys International, Glenmark Pharma, Grasim Industries, Indian Hotels, Ipca Labs, JSW Energy, Jubilant Pharmova, KEC International, L&T Technology, Laurus Labs, M&M, Muthoot Finance, NTPC, Quess Corp, Reliance Power, Shriram Finance, UNO Minda, Vardhman Textile, Vedanta, Voltas, among others.

Markets traded volatile for yet another session and gained nearly half a percent. After the initial uptick, Nifty slipped sharply lower in the early hours however strength in heavyweights, especially from banking and IT majors, helped the index to recoup losses and inch higher. Eventually, Nifty settled at 22,514.65 level; up by 0.4%. Meanwhile, a mixed trend continued on the sectoral front wherein FMCG and energy closed in the red. The buoyancy continued on the broader front wherein smallcap gained nearly half a percent.

We expect the prevailing tone to continue however the pace of advance would largely depend upon the performance of banking and IT majors. Participants should continue with the “buy on dips” approach and focus more on stock selection.