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Markets seem to be losing steam amid profit taking at higher levels and volatility has crashed post the electoral results.
Banking stocks which had led the gains since early trades have come off their intra-day highs while IT shares continue to face selling pressure amid a stronger rupee.
At 1:50PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 282 points at 24,188 after hitting an intra-day high of 25,376 and the 50-share Nifty was up 98 points at 7,221 after touching an intra-day high of 7,563.50.
The India VIX slumped 37.3% to 23.
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(Updated at 1:10PM)
Investors turned cautious in noon trades and booked profits at higher levels with select IT and pharma shares under pressure.
At 1:10PM, the 30-share Sensex was up 716 points at 24,622 after hitting an intra-day high of 25,376 and the 50-share Nifty was up 225 points at 7,348 after touching an intra-day high of 7,563.
The cumulative market capitalisation of all the 5,373-odd companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), soared to a new peak of Rs 82,02,907 crore.
"On Nifty, we have seen a breakout above 7,000 levels. The momentum has been confirmed and the trajectory of the market has now shifted from 5,500-6,300 to 6,500-7,800. Banking stocks will be the prime beneficiary of this rally," said Harendra Kumar. Managing Director - Institutional Equities, Elara Capital.
The Indian rupee gained sharply against the US dollar following the sharp gains in equity markets and hopes of further inflows from foreign institutional investors. The rupee was trading higher at Rs 58.88 compared to its previous close of Rs 59.29.
Asian markets were trading lower with the Nikkei down 1.4% on the back of profit taking and a stronger yen. The Shanghai Composite was down 0.3%, Hang Seng slipped 0.3% and Straits Times was down 0.3%.
ICICI Bank, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), ITC, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Axis Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) and Maruti Suzuki India from the BSE 30-share Sensex have hit their respective new highs.
Ambuja Cements, UltraTech Cement, YES Bank, Axis Bank, Apollo Tyres, LIC Housing Finance and Titan Company are among other notable stocks from BSE-500 index touched record high.
As many as 17 companies have market capitalization of more than Rs 100,000 crore each. Tata Consultancy Service (TCS), Reliance Industries, ONGC and ITC have market capitalization between Rs 300,000 –Rs 430,000 crore.
Banks which are a proxy to the economy continue to lead the gains on hopes that a stable government led by the BJP would help unfold reforms and stimulate growth going forward. The Bank Nifty was up 7.6% at 15,324 after hitting a record high of 15,742. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI and Axis Bank were up 6-7.7% each.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was up 5.4% at Rs 1,110 after its arm Reliance Jio Infocomm entered into an agreement with Tower Vision India, an independent tower company, to utilise the latter's telecom towers. Tower Vision has a portfolio of 8,400 towers in India.
NTPC was up nearly 5% after the power major said it has recovered Rs 1,973 crore of dues from Desu, following a dispute between the Centre and the Delhi government over which entity would pay the distributor's dues.
IT shares retreated after the rupee appreciated sharply against the dollar following the sharp gainsi in equities. Wipro and Infosys were down 1.6% each.
In the pharma pack Dr Reddy's Labs was down 2.5%, Cipla fell 0.9% while FMCG major Hindustan Unilever was down 1.4%.
Among other shares, A sharp rally in stocks of Adani Group has catapulted Gautam Adani into the top league. With the total market capitalization of Rs 122,206 crore of its three listed companies - Adani Enterprises, Adani Power and Adani Port and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) – Adani Group raced ahead of big corporate houses like Bajaj, Shiv Nadar, Anil Ambani and UB Group in terms of total market capitalisation of their listed companies. Adani Group is now the ninth most-valued groups in the country. Investors are speculating that Gujarat-based companies especially Adani group, will find it easier to do business if Narendra Modi-led coalition forms government. Adani Enterprises was up 13.8%.
Karnataka Bank was up 10% at Rs 138 after the Mangalore-based private sector lender reported 21% rise in net profit at Rs 81 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2014 compared to Rs 67 crore reported in the corresponding quarter last year. The total income for the period went up 7.6% to Rs 1,173 crore from Rs 1,090 crore in the year ago period.
Cement shares were also in demand on hopes that the resumption of infrastructure projects would lead to higher demand for cement. ACC, Ambuja Cements and UltraTech Cement were up 4-6% each.
In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap index was up 2.5% and Small-cap index gained 1.5%.
Market breadth was neutral with 1,303 gainers and 1,300 losers on the BSE.
