Stock Market At Record High: Sensex Rises 195 Points, Nifty At 18,850. HDFC Twins Gain 2 Per Cent, Metals Drag

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, PowerGrid, HDFC twins, TechM, TCS, Wipro emerged gainers. On the flipside, M&M, ITC, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Maruti were the losers

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Wednesday scaled a new all-time high of 63,588 on the BSE in the intra-day trade, surpassing its previous high of 63,583 touched on December 1, 2022. However, later in the day the indices pared their gains. The Sensex and Nifty eventually closed in the green. The BSE Sensex rose 195 points to 63,523. On the other hand, the Nifty50, ended at 18,857, up 40 points.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, PowerGrid, HDFC twins, TechM, TCS, Wipro emerged gainers. On the downside, M&M, ITC, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Maruti were among the losers.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices ended 0.68 per cent and 0.24 per cent higher, respectively.

Sectorwise, Nifty Metal index slipped 0.94 per cent, followed by the Nifty Realty index (down 0.33 per cent). On the upside, the Nifty Financial Services index advanced 0.68 per cent, followed by the Nifty PSU Bank index (up 0.44 per cent).

In the previous session on Tuesday, the BSE Sensex closed at 63,328, up 159 points, while the NSE Nifty50 reclaimed the 18,800-mark and settled higher by 61 points to 18,817.

"It's a pleasure to see Sensex reaching a new all-time high in spite of several challenges from the global front. We are waiting for the June quarterly results to trickle in with hopes that it would be by and large in sync with expectations," said Rakeshh Mehta, Chairman, Mehta Equities Ltd. "Sensex rallying to all-time-high is in tune with the global rally in stock markets. Most markets are at 52- week highs. Last year, global markets had corrected discounting a US recession early this year and its impact on global growth and corporate earnings," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services said.

In Asian markets, Tokyo ended in the green, while Seoul, Shanghai, and Hong Kong settled lower. Equity markets in Europe were trading mostly in the green. The US markets ended lower on Tuesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.03 per cent to $75.98 a barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,942.62 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated by 7 paise to close at 82.02 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday as a positive trend in domestic equities and easing crude oil prices supported investor sentiments. However, a strong dollar against major rivals overseas and foreign fund inflows capped the rupee's gain, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened weak at 82.13 and touched the intra-day peak of 81.99. The domestic unit finally settled at 82.02 (provisional) against the US dollar, registering a gain of 7 paise over the previous close. On Tuesday, the rupee settled at 82.09 against the dollar.