Nifty, Sensex End At New Record Close As RIL, ITC Lead Rally: Market Wrap

The benchmark equity indices ended at all-time closing high on Wednesday, after extending gains in the last hour of trade. The NSE Nifty 50 also hit an intraday high of 22,775.70 points and the S&P BSE Sensex crossed the psychologically crucial mark of 75,000. Market participants now await the US consumer price index data and minutes of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting for further direction.

The Nifty closed 111.05 points, or 0.49%, higher at 22,753.80 and the Sensex ended 354.45 points, or 0.47%, up at 75,038.15.

"The Nifty mostly remained sideways today as investors preferred to wait ahead of the US CPI inflation data, which could potentially impact rate cuts by the Fed," Rupak De, senior technical analyst at LKP Securities, said. "The resistance zone is placed at 22,700-22,750, while support is at 22,600."

"A decisive move above 22,750 might induce a rally towards 23,000 in the short term. Since the market appears to be range-bound, buying on dips and selling on rallies might prove to be a good strategy with proper stop-loss measures," De said.

Shares of Reliance Industries Ltd., ITC Ltd., Bharti Airtel Ltd., Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. and State Bank of India contributed the most to the gains in the Nifty 50.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., HDFC Life Insurance Co., Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., Larsen & Toubro Ltd. and HDFC Bank Ltd. capped the upside.

Sectoral indices on the NSE were mostly higher at close, except Nifty Pharma and Nifty Auto, which ended lower. The Nifty Media ended nearly 2% higher.

The broader markets ended higher in line with the benchmark indices. The BSE MidCap settled 0.89% higher and the SmallCap ended 0.46% up.

On the BSE, 18 sectors advanced and two declined. The oil and gas sector rose the most, while utilities declined the most.

The market breadth was evenly split between buyers and sellers as 1,960 stocks rose, 1,868 declined and 105 remained unchanged on the BSE.