sensex and nifty today: Sensex hits another record high: Key factors driving the market

NEW DELHI: Benchmark indices continued to rally on Friday, emboldened by US Fed’s resolve to support the economy. Nifty and Sensex both hit fresh record highs led by buying in metals and pharma.

It is simply common sense that central banks will have to end their loose monetary policy and rebalance their balance sheets at some point in time. When that happens, interest rates will go up and the equity markets will correct sharply, said an analyst.

“Don’t chase mid and smallcaps that are in bubble territory. Hyper retail enthusiasm and very low institutional activity in this segment are causing this irrational exuberance. History tells us that this will not last. Largecaps, though overvalued, are relatively safe,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

How are the bluechips doing?
After opening in the green, benchmark indices maintained their lead. At 9.30 am, BSE flagship Sensex was up 102 points or 0.19 per cent to 53,260. NSE benchmark Nifty advanced 30 points or 0.19 per cent to 15,954.

In the 50-share pack Nifty, Divi’s lLabs was the biggest gainer, up 2.63 per cent. ITC, Cipla, Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Wipro and Tata Steel were among other gainers.

Eicher Motors was the top loser in the pack, down 1.97 per cent. HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra,

, ONGC, ICICI Bank, IndianOil, Tata Consumer and Shree Cement were other losers in the pack.

FACTORS DRIVING MARKETS

Focus on recovery: Fed chairman Powell faced sharp questions about inflation and banking regulation in a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, and repeated his pledge of “powerful support” to complete the US economic recovery.

Bond yields fall: The 10-year US Treasuries yield fell to 1.302 per cent, edging near a five-month low of 1.250 per cent touched last week. Falling yields mean more money coming to emerging markets like India.

Broader markets
Broader market indices were trading higher, outperforming their headline peers in morning trade. Nifty Smallcap was up 0.75 per cent, while Nifty Midcap advanced 0.18 per cent. Broadest index on NSE, Nifty 500 was up 0.22 per cent.

CAMS, Happiest Minds, CDSL, Syngene International, Vodafone Idea and Glenmark Pharma were gainers from the space, while Oberoi Realty, Tata Elxsi, Zee Entertainment, Cyient, HEG and Carborundum Universal were under selling pressure.

Global markets
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.35 per cent, weighed by a 1.2 per cent fall in Taiwanese shares after TSMC’s earnings on Thursday.

TSMC, Asia’s biggest firm by market capitalisation outside China, fell almost 4 per cent following its earnings on Thursday. TSMC’s fall weighed on many other semiconductor-related shares in the region, with South Korea’s Kospi down 0.6 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei losing 1.1 per cent.

Weakness in chip-related shares also helped to bring down the S&P 500 0.33 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite 0.70 per cent on Thursday.