Sensex, Nifty scale new peaks

New Year celebrations are continuing in the stock markets with the benchmark Sensex scaling a new high of 20465.30 at close on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday, led by bluechip stocks HDFC, Tata Motors and Reliance Energy.
The 30-share BSE barometer added 164.59 points over its previous close of 20300.71 to set the new closing record. The index touched the day’s high of 20529.48 and a low of 20077.40. The Sensex also hit an all-time intra-trade high of 20529.48.
The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange jumped 35.05 points to close at a new life-time high of 6179.40 against the previous close of 6144.35.
The market surged in late afternoon trade on sustained across-the-board value buying by investors after showing some pressure due to weakness in the Asian markets, which were down by about 1-2.3 per cent at close.
The market breadth was strong following widespread gains in the small-cap and the mid-cap shares.
However, analysts said that the market had reached the 20500 resistance level and was expected to correct downwards.
Crediting the upsurge to technical factors, brokers said there was shortage of scrips while liquidity remained comfortable in the market.
Wednesday’s rally was led by banks and realty sector with their indices moving up by 3.13 per cent and 2.93 per cent respectively.
Stocks of ICICI Bank surged by 2.88 per cent. The BSE Bankex rose to 11870.49 while the realty index was up at 13419.67.
As the buying activity spread over a wide-front, the small cap index shot up by 205.90 points to 13908.97 and the mid-cap index by 123.91 points to 10058.94.
The realty segment index surged the most by 381.78 points to 13419.67, followed by bank index by 360.18 points to 11870.49.
The PSU index shot up by 140.43 points to 10773.91. The oil and gas index rose by 110.24 points to 13391.12, and the metal index by 99.36 points to 20160.85. — PTI