Market Wrap Podcast, September 15: All that happened in the markets today

Defying a weak global market setup, the benchmark indices vaulted to fresh record highs on Wednesday, lifted by key sectors such as banks, information technology, auto and metals. The much-awaited US inflation data that indicated a slower than expected rise in prices supported market sentiment because of the likely fall in tapering risk.

The BSE Sensex broke out from a narrow trading range seen over the last few sessions to touch a fresh record high of 58,777 in intra-day deals. It finally settled at 58,723, up 476 points. At the same time, its NSE counterpart Nifty50 topped 17,500 for the first time to end 139 points higher at 17,519. The 50-pack index had touched a record high of 17,533 in trade earlier.

The broader markets too rose today, with the BSE Midcap index ending 0.65 per cent higher and the BSE Smallcap closing 0.86 per cent up. Both of these indices had also touched new highs in trade today.

That said, telecom and auto-linked stocks were in focus today following the announcement of measures for the respective sectors.

The cabinet today approved the Production Linked Incentive scheme for the auto industry, auto component industry & drone industry, with a budgetary outlay of Rs 26,000 crore. This sparked a rally in auto component manufacturers, with shares of Varroc Engineering ending at 20 per cent upper circuit, while Jamna Auto and Sandhar Tech rose up to 9 per cent. The Nifty Auto pack was also among the leading sectoral gainers, up nearly 1 per cent.

Further, the government announced the much-awaited relief for the telecom sector. The Cabinet rationalised the definition of AGR so that non-telecom revenue won't be included apart from rationalising interest rates. Further, they also announced a four-year moratorium on payment of statutory dues by telecom companies and allowed 100 per cent foreign investment through the automatic route. This boosted shares of telecom players. The stock of Sunil Mittal-led telecom operator Airtel jumped over 4 per cent to hit a new high of Rs 734.60. Its market capitalisation also soared past the Rs 4 trillion mark. The debt-ridden Vodafone Idea also ended 3 per cent higher.

Relief for telecom players also cheered PSU bank stocks that have significant exposure to the sector. The Nifty PSU Bank index emerged to be the best performer on NSE, with a gain of nearly 3 per cent. Nifty Media was the only loser.

Among other stocks, Coal India surged 5 per cent on reports of the world's biggest miner of the fossil fuel raising prices by 10-11 per cent.

Meanwhile, a day after a 40 per cent surge in the shares of Zee Entertainment, the company's stock fell 2.7 per cent on profit-booking as speculation on Dalal Street was focussed on whether MD & CEO Punit Goenka will now be booted out of the company. The stock had rallied in the morning session after bulk deal data showed that ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's Rare Enterprises Ltd and BofA Securities Europe SA had bought shares of the company on Tuesday.

Now, in the primary market, the IPO by Sansera Engineering sailed through on the second day of the bidding process. The bulk of the subscription came from retail investors. The company's IPO, which is entirely an offer for sale, will close tomorrow.

Going into trade on Thursday, the markets may continue to trade on a bullish note, suggests tech charts. According to Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, one can expect more upside if 17400-17300 levels are held which are good support zones. On the higher side, the immediate hurdle is at 15,600-15,700 zone, Singre said. On the fundamental level, stock-specific news flow and global cues will continue to sway market moves.