Markets end at record highs; ITC, banks outperform

The 30-share Sensex ended up 292 points at 29,571 and the 50-share Nifty closed up 75 points at 8,910.

Markets ended at record closing highs for the fifth straight session led by financials and ITC while capital goods shares gained on hopes of order inflows after the breakthrough in the Indo-US treaty for civilian nuclear projects.

The 30-share Sensex ended up 292 points at 29,571 and the 50-share Nifty gained 75 points to end above 8,900 for the first-time ever at 8,910.

The Sensex touched its new all-time high level of 29,618.59 and Nifty reached its fresh record-high level of 8,925.05 in today’s session.

In the broader market, both the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices underperformed compared to the front-liners with gains of 0.8% and 0.5% each.

Market breadth in BSE ended negative with 1,514 declines against 1,415 advances.

The US Federal Reserve will meet for its two-day policy meet, the first in 2015, on Tuesday.

Analysts expect it to maintain its earlier stance of remaining 'patient' on increasing the key rates.

Globally, equity markets largely shrugged off the outcome of Greece election.

The victor Syriza Party has promised to re-negotiate Greece debts with its international creditors and bring a halt to the austerity measures.

On the domestic front, Prime Minister Narendra Modi bid farewell to US President Barack Obama who left India after a three-day visit.

During the visit the Indo-US civil nuclear treaty was given a fresh start paving the way for future collaborations on civilian nuclear projects between the two countries.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 2,020 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

Buzzing Stocks

9 of the 12 sectoral indices of BSE ended in green.

BSE Bankex gained 2.3% and was the top gainer followed by BSE Capital Goods index, up 1.8% and BSE Auto index, up 1.2%.

BSE IT index, down 1.6% was the top loser followed by BSE Metal index which ended down 0.6%. Financials were among the top gainers in today’s trade.

Axis Bank gained around 5%, ICICI Bank gained around 4%, HDFC gained around 1.6% and HDFC Bank gained around 2.4%.

SBI gained over 1%. Banking shares mainly private sector such as ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Yes Bank and Indusind Bank touched their respective record high during intra-day deal.

Since January 15, Bank Nifty has outperformed the market by surging 10% after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan unexpectedly cut the benchmark repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 7.75% from 8%.

The benchmark index gained 7.5% during the same period. Capital Goods stocks too ended higher. L&T gained around 2% and BHEL ended up around 0.7%.

FMCG major, ITC gained over 3%. Among auto stocks, Maruti Suzuki was up around 2% and reached its record high while Tata Motors was the lead gainer from the pack and gained around 3%.

However, M&M and Bajaj Auto declined around 2.8% and 1.3% respectively. Maruti Suzuki today reported 18% growth in net profit to Rs 802 crore compared to Rs 681.2 crore in the year-ago period.

The revenue came in at Rs 12,576 crore in the quarter ended 31 December, 2014 compared to Rs 10,984 crore in the same quarter last fiscal, up 14.5%.

The EBITDA came in at Rs 1,593 crore, with operating margin at 12.7%. "Higher volumes and favourable forex contributed to the bottom-line," the company said in a statement.

Pharma stocks ended mixed.

While Cipla gained around 5%, Sun Pharma and Dr Reddys Lab declined around 1% and 4% each. Ranbaxy which is to be acquired by Sun Pharma, lost its 180 day exclusivity on Nexium, a heartburn drug from AstraZeneca, after the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) allowed Teva Pharma to launch generic version of the drug.

IT stocks were mixed in today’s session. Infosys declined around 3.5% and TCS ended higher by 0.2%. Wipro declined around 0.6%.

The company has been awarded a multi-year strategic infrastructure management contract by AIB, a leading bank in Ireland offering a full range of personal and corporate banking services.

Metal stocks were under pressure with Hindalco losing over 1.5%.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday filed a status report showing its further investigation in the Hindalco coal block allocation matter, allegedly involving industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former coal secretary P C Parakh. Tata Steel lost 1.1%.

Coal India down 2.7% and HUL down 2.1% were other major losers. Among other stocks, Rajesh Exports rallied 12% on back of heavy volumes after the company announced its plans to foray into gold finance business.