Sensex 1.58 pts shy of life high

The bellwether Sensex came within sniffing distance of its lifetime high on Friday, riding on a 13-month low in inflation, a normal monsoon prediction and higher earnings forecast for the April-June quarter.

The 30-share Sensex, which rose by 145 points or 1.01 per cent to 14,650.51 points on Friday, is just 1.58 points short of its all-time high close registered on February 8 this year.

The Sensex also hit an intra-day high of 14,663.25 today, which is 60.63 points off its all-time intra-day high of 14,723.88 touched on February 9.

The Sensex, however, trailed its rival National Stock Exchange's Nifty-50 Index, which closed above the psychological 4,300-mark for the first time to end at 4,318.30

Larsen & Toubro (Rs 2,210.10, up 1.96 per cent), HDFC (Rs 2,039, up 3.66 per cent), BHEL (Rs 1,544, up 3.32 per cent), SBI (Rs 1,531, up 3.74 per cent), ABB (Rs 1,099, up 5.95 per cent), Tata Power (Rs 686.50) and Reliance Petroleum (Rs 112.70) from the Sensex and S&P CNX Nifty stocks closed at all-time highs.

Banking stocks were also in demand, as lower inflation prompted investors to reckon that interest rates may have peaked. Punjab National Bank (Rs 539.79), Kotak Mahindra Bank (Rs 672.50), HDFC Bank (Rs 1,144.09), IDBI (Rs 118.65), South Indian Bank (Rs 127.10) and OBC (Rs 225.65) stocks gained more than 4 per cent.

All in all, it has been bulls all the way in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, with a 2,195.14 points rally (17.62 per cent) for the Sensex. The only exception was on April 2 when an unexpected rate hike by the Reserve Bank of India pulled the markets down.

"At every correction, we are seeing big buying by foreign investors. There will be major corrections on the way but the underlying trend is very robust. The Indian growth story remains and we are seeing more and more global players wanting to buy the India story," said Nimesh Kampani, chairman, JM Financial.

Analysts said the earnings forecast by Indian companies looked healthy and this would act as the next trigger for the markets in coming weeks. A normal monsoon prediction also boosted the prospects for a bigger harvest of rice, cotton and soybean.

The BSE Mid Cap Index, which closed at its lifetime high today, has outperformed the Sensex and Small Cap Index in the last month. It appreciated more than 4 per cent compared with a 0.55 per cent rise in the Sensex and a 3.4 per cent gain in the Small Cap Index.