Sensex scales 70,000-peak, Nifty closes just shy of 21,000 on gains in metal, IT shares

Equity benchmark Sensex breached a new milestone of 70,000 points before closing 102 points higher, while Nifty settled just shy of the 21,000 mark on December 11. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Equity benchmark Sensex breached a new milestone of 70,000 points before closing 102 points higher, while Nifty settled just shy of the 21,000 mark on December 11, driven by gains in banking, IT and metal shares.

Also read: Sensex scales 70,000-peak for first time in early trade; Nifty crosses 21,000-level

After a gap-up opening, the 30-share index rose to a record intra-day high of 70,057.83 points. Later, it shed some of the gains to close at 69,928.53 points, showing gains of 102.93 points or 0.15%.

As many as 18 Sensex shares closed in the green, 11 declined, and one settled unchanged.

The broader Nifty also hit its record trading high of 21,026.10 amid early gains in global markets. The 50-share index gained 27.70 points or 0.13% to settle just below the 21,000 level at 20,997.10, its all-time closing high.

Among Sensex shares, Ultratech Cement jumped the most by 3.04%. Nestle rose by 1.3%, Power Grid by 1.05% and Tata Motors by 0.85%. Gains in IndusInd Bank, HCL Tech, TCS, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, ITC, JSW Steel and Tata Steel helped the barometer scale a fresh high.

Axis Bank fell the most by 1.26%, M&M by 0.99% and Hindustan Unilever by 0.67%. Maruti, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel and HDFC Bank and Infosys also declined.

“The market crossed 70,000 levels today, while the broader market outperformed the main indices. However, profit booking was evident at higher levels as traders anticipated clues from tomorrow’s significant data releases on inflation from the US and India, as well as the IIP,” Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, said.

Investors will be closely watching the upcoming FOMC meeting tomorrow for clues about potential future rate cuts while expecting to keep rates the same this time, Mr. Nair added.

Meanwhile, Asian markets were mixed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.8% and the Shanghai Composite added 0.7% while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gained 1.5%.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX was unchanged, and the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.2%. In London, the FTSE 100 was down 0.4%.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) have turned bullish, investing ₹26,505 crore into domestic equities in the first six trading sessions of December.