Market Wrap, Jan 14: Sensex ends near 42,000, Nifty tops 12,350; banks slip

Snubbing the lacklustre trade witnessed throughout the day, benchmark indices scaled new life-time highs on Tuesday. The S&P BSE Sensex edged towards the 42,000-mark to hit a new high of 41,994, while the broader Nifty50 crossed the psychological level of 12,350 to hit 12,374.

At close, the Sensex was at record closing high of 41,953 level, up 93 points or 0.22 per cent, lifted by gains in HDFC, ITC, Axis Bank, and TCS. On the NSE, the Nifty50 settled 30 points or 0.25 per cent, higher at 12,360-mark.

Among the key companies that were scheduled to report their Q3 earnings today, IT firm Wipro reported a 2.17% year-on-year decline in the consolidated net profit at Rs 2,456 crore. Sequentially, the number slipped nearly 4 per cent. The revenue for the firm came in at Rs 15,470 crore.

On the other hand, private lender IndusInd Bank reported a standalone net profit of Rs 1,300 crore, up 32 per cent year-on-year. While the asset quality of the bank remained stable, it's provisions rose sharply by 41 per cent QoQ to Rs 1,043 crore. Among the key highlights, Ramesh Sobti, MD and CEO, of the private bank said that the bank has declared exposure to DHFL and Cox and Kings as 'fraud' in this quarter. Post the numbers, the bank first rose nearly 3 per cent, but declined 7.3% off day's high to hit an intra-day low of Rs 1471.

That apart, on the economic front, India's wholesale inflation for the month of December rose to 2.59%, as against 0.58% in November. The food inflation rate rose to 13.2 per cent during the month as against 11 per cent in November. Within this category, onions saw an inflation rate of about 456 per cent compared to 172 per cent in November.

Here's how the global markets performed today:

Asian shares rose, China’s yuan jumped and safe-harbour assets slipped on Tuesday, amid signs of goodwill between China and the United States.

Japan's Nikkei added 0.7% to hit its highest in a month, while Australian shares rose by the same margin to close at a record.

In Europe, investors remained cautious ahead of their Q4 earnings. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.2 per cent in the early deals, in its third straight day of declines.