The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex on Monday extended its record run, closing at 31,309.49, 36.20 points higher than Friday’s close of 31,273.29 points, while the National Stock Exchange Nifty ended the day at 9,675.10 points, 21.60 points over Friday’s close of 9,650.53 points.
This is the first time the Sensex has closed at above 31,300 points.
Both the Sensex and Nifty began the week by trading flat. While BSE Sensex opened 1.45 points higher than Friday’s close at 31,274.74 points, NSE Nifty opened 2.80 points higher than the previous close at 9,656.30 points.
After hitting an intraday low of 31,198.22 points the BSE Sensex recovered to reach a record high of 31,353.65 points in afternoon trade before settling at 31,309.49 points when markets closed. Nifty, on the other hand, reached a high of 9,687.20 in afternoon trade before closing at 9,675.10 points.
The BSE’s top gainers for the day were Bajaj Auto, Tata Consultancy Services, Larsen & Toubro, Axis Bank and Adani Ports. The biggest losers were Coal India, GAIL (India), Infosys, Lupin and Dr Reddy’s Labs.
On the Nifty50 index, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Yes Bank, Bharti Infratel Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation Limited and Bajaj Auto were the five top gainers. The major losers were Coal India, UltraTech Cement Ltd, Infosys, GAIL (India) and Lupin.
Jewellery retailers like Titan Company, PC Jeweller, Gitanjali Gems and Tara Jewels’s shares surged between six and 15% on Monday after GST rates for these items were announced. Shares of footwear companies like Bata India, Relaxo and Sree Leathers were also trading higher early on Monday. The GST rates for footwear, apparels and gold were announced over the weekend. It was decided that gold, silver and diamonds would be taxed by the GST Council at 3%.
Besides this, the Reserve Bank of India’s upcoming monetary policy meet also affected the market. The apex bank is likely to keep its interest rates unchanged. During the June 6-7 meet, it is likely to measure the impact of the GST rollout on inflation. “Given the inflation trajectory and as the liquidity in enough in the market, it is unlikely that there would be any rate cut this time.” State Bank of India DMD and Chief Financial Officer Anshula Kant told PTI. “I think commentary of the policy will be benign.”
Meanwhile, the rupee rose 12 paise against the US dollar at 64.32 in early trade. Among other Asian markets, Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.25%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.14% and Japan’s Nikkei was up 0.14%.
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