The Sensex is just 268 points away from yet another peak: 16,000 points. On Monday, heavy buying in select index heavyweights and short-covering in the derivative segment helped the 30-share benchmark index of the BSE surge to an all-time high of 15,773.37 points before closing at 15,732.20 points, gaining 166.65 points, or 1.07%. Even weak US and Asian markets could not spoil the mood of the Indian bourses, which were driven mostly by favourable domestic fundamentals. The Sensex posted gains for the fourth session in a row since July 18.
Asian markets witnessed mixed trends on Monday with the Nikkei 225 falling by 194.29 points, or 1.07%, at 17,963.64 points, the Strait Times down 16.03 points, or 0.44%, at 3,635.35 points, the Hang Seng up 73.66 points, or 0.32%, at 23,365.56 points and the Shanghai Composite up 154.31 points, or 3.81%. The Jakarta Composite rose 13.81 points, or 0.58%, to 2,380.21points.
The market was expectedly very volatile ahead of the July derivative contract expiry. The Sensex swung wildly in a range of almost 300 points after opening the day at 15,560.57 points.The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the NSE ended the day at a new high 4,619.35 points, gaining 53.3 points, or 1.17%.
Short-covering at higher levels in the derivative series made the Nifty July series discount fall to 5.35 points from 21 points recorded in earlier sessions. Nifty July futures closed at 4,614 points.
The capital goods sector stole the limelight on Monday by gaining 526.12 points, or 4.03%, to close at 13,596.20. L&T and Bhel, which together have a 54.89% weightage in BSE?s capital goods index, rose 5.62% and 7.12%, respectively. Bhel closed at Rs 1,765.45, gaining Rs 117.40, and L&T at Rs 2,614.40, gaining Rs 139.10, on the BSE.
Amitabh Chakraborty, head of research at Religare Securities, said, ?Apart from global liquidity, strong domestic fundamentals are driving the market higher. Impressive first-quarter corporate results and an indication that inflation is settling at around 4% have buoyed sentiments. With a consensus emerging that interest rates have peaked, the fear of another hike in interest rates has receded. The Sensex is expected to touch the 17k level by the end of the calendar year.?
The market breadth was marginally positive with 1,330 stocks advancing, against 1,306 stocks losing ground. As many as 74 stocks remained unchanged. BSE?s mid-cap index gained only 13.05 points, or 0.19%, and the BSE small-cap index 46.33 points, or 0.57%, clearly indicating that investors are taking a cautious approach.