Market Wrap, Jan 11: Here's all that happened in the markets today

Indian equities stayed firm at record high levels during Monday's trading session as a strong kick-start to Q3 earnings, decision to roll out Covid-19 vaccine in the country as early as January 16, and hopes of a greater stimulus package in the US pushed the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex above the 49,000-mark for the first time. The Nifty50, too, inched closer to 14,500 in the intra-day session.

Frontline Sensex hit a record peak of 49,304 in the intra-day deals today before settling 487 points, or 1 per cent, higher at 49,269 levels. On the NSE, the Nifty50 ended at a record closing peak of 14,485 levels, adding 137 points or 0.96 per cent. Earlier today, the index touched a lifetime high of 14,498.

IT stocks led from the front and remained top gainers on the indices today. HCL Technologies, Infosys, TCS, and Tech Mahindra surged between 2 per cent and 6 per cent on the BSE today, contributing the most towards Sensex's gains. On the index front, Nifty IT index hit fresh record high of 27,096 in the intra-day trade, ending 3.3 per cent higher at 27,028 levels.Individually, market-cap of TCS zoomed past the Rs 12-trillion mark in the intra-day session but settled at Rs 11.9-trillion on the BSE today after the company reported better-than-expected Q3 results.

Auto sector, too, buzzed at the bourses on expectations of strong Q3 results. The Nifty Auto index advanced 3 per cent on the NSE to hit an intra-day high of 10,029, its highest level since September, 2018. Among individual stocks, Tata Motors rallied 13 per cent to Rs 225 on the NSE. Ashok Leyland, Maruti Suzuki, TVS Motor Company, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharat Forge, MRF and Bajaj Auto from the auto index were up 2 per cent to 4 per cent. The index settled 2.6 per cent higher.

Other individual gainers included HDFC, HUL, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, and ONGC, up in the range of 1 per cent to 4 per cent on the Sensex, while losses in L&T, Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries, and Bajaj Finserv capped gains.

On the downside, shares of Burger King India were locked in the 10% lower circuit as anchor investors' 30-day lock-in period expired today.

Meanwhile, profit-booking was seen in the broader markets after the previous week's outperformance. The S&P BSE MidCap index closed 0.08 per cent lower at 19,124 levels, while the S&P BSE SmallCap index ended at 18,876 levels, down 0.17 per cent.

Overall market breadth remained tilted towards declines with nearly 1700 stocks declining on the BSE against around 1500 stocks that advanced. 143 stocks remained unchanged. Volatility index, too, jumped over 8 per cent today to close above 22 levels.

Global markets

European stocks slipped from over 10-month highs on Monday as investors booked profits after a strong week, while surging coronavirus cases across the continent and mainland China dragged down energy and mining stocks.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.1 per cent, with Germany's DAX index shed 0.4 per cent and France's CAC 40 down 0.2 per cent.

In Asia, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index dipped 0.2 per cent, South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.12 per cent, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index declined 1%. On the flipside, the MSCI Emerging Market Index gained 0.2 per cent.

Dow Jones Futures were last trading over 150 points lower indicating a weak start on Wall Street later today.

In the commodities market, gold and silver futures snapped their losing streak and gained 0.5 per cent and 1.5 per cent on the MCX today.