Sensex, Nifty tick higher to fresh records; auto stocks in top gear

Equity indices pared most of their early gains but managed to close at fresh lifetime highs on Monday as robust buying in RIL and auto stocks offset profit booking in the IT pack.

Rising for the third straight session, the Sensex ended 29.41 points or 0.05 per cent higher at its new closing peak of 60,077.88. Intra-day, it soared to an all-time high of 60,412.32.

On similar lines, the broader Nifty inched up 1.90 points or 0.01 per cent to end at its fresh lifetime high of 17,855.10.

Maruti Suzuki was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying 6.53 per cent, followed by M&M, Bajaj Auto, NTPC, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, and UltraTech Cement.

On the other hand, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, Infosys, L&T, Nestlé India, and HUL were among the main laggards, shedding up to 4.58 per cent.

The market breadth was negative, with 17 of the 30 Sensex components ending in the red, while 13 mustered gains.

“Domestic equities traded range-bound amid positive cues from global equities. Heavy profit-booking in IT and pharma nullified the impact of sharp recovery in auto stocks,” said Binod Modi, head - strategy at Reliance Securities.

Auto stocks witnessed strong rebound as continued underperformance for last couple of months, expectations of improvement in demand scenario from October and positive commentary from select companies about semiconductor issue made investors buy quality names in OEMs, he noted.

Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, said, “Due to profit booking in IT, Pharma and FMCG, domestic markets failed to uphold its winning streak to close flat in a volatile session.”

"Realty stocks continued its rally on positive developments in the sector while the sentiments in the auto sector were lifted on expectation of better sales numbers for September. The market is also awaiting the release of August's core sector output data and September's manufacturing PMI data this week," he added.

Sectorally, BSE auto, realty, energy, oil and gas, bankex and utilities indices rallied as much as 3.11 per cent, while IT, teck, healthcare and FMCG indices closed lower.

Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices ended on a flat note.

Asian markets were mixed after China's central bank announced fresh liquidity measures amid the continuing debt crisis at real estate giant Evergrande. Bourses in Hong Kong and Seoul ended with gains, while Shanghai and Tokyo were in the red.

Stock exchanges in Europe were trading on a positive note, led by German shares after federal election results showed that the hard-left Linke party did not get the requisite votes to enter parliament.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.32 per cent to USD 78.25 per barrel.

The rupee weakened by 15 paise to close at 73.83 against the US dollar on Monday as a stronger greenback against key rivals and rising crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiment.