Sensex, Nifty end at new peaks in lacklustre session

Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty raced to new peaks on Monday on account of healthy buying in heavyweights Reliance and HDFC twins as well as IT and pharma shares. At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex was quoted higher by 145.29 points or 0.26 per cent at a new closing high of 55,582.58 points. It also hit a record intra-day high of 55,680.75. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty advanced 33.95 points or 0.21 per cent to mark a fresh closing high of 16,563.05 points. During the day, it rose to new intra-day peak of 16,589.40.

"Markets traded lacklustre and ended marginally higher, in absence of any major trigger. The tone was muted in the beginning however healthy buying in select heavyweights like Reliance combined with stocks from the metal and financials space aided the index to inch higher as the session progressed. The broader market indices continued their underperformance and ended lower in a range of 0.3-0.8 per cent," Ajit Mishra, V-P (research), Religare Broking, said.

"As the results season is largely behind us, domestic factors viz. updates on further unlocking and pace of vaccination will remain in focus. Meanwhile, performance of the global indices may induce further volatility. Since we're seeing limited participation, traders should focus on sectors which are trading in sync with the benchmark and wisely choose the stocks," Mishra said.

Tata Steel was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying nearly 4 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finance, M&M, Bajaj Finserv and Reliance Industries. On the other hand, Maruti, Bajaj Auto, PowerGrid and UltraTech Cement were among the major laggards. Sectorally, BSE metal, energy, oil and gas, FMCG and finance indices rose up to 1.79 per cent, while telecom, auto, capital goods and power indices fell up to 0.99 per cent. Broader midcap and smallcap indices underperformed the benchmark, shedding up to 0.57 per cent.