Sensex today climbs above 57K, Nifty breaches 17K; Indices at record high

Indian stock markets touched new highs on Tuesday, defying a broader fall in Asian markets as China continued to crack down on private companies.

The 30-stock benchmark BSE Sensex today touched a new record high of 57,625 while the Nifty50 index hit 17,153 in morning trade. The indexes fell a tad on profit-taking, before climbing again in intraday trading. The Sensex ended at 57,552.39, up 1.16%, while the Nifty index ended up 1.19% at 17,132.20. 

Rise and Rise of Sensex and Nifty

The Sensex index has now jumped almost 120% since crashing to 25,638.90 in March 2020 due to concerns related to the Covid-19 pandemic. The non-stop rally has prompted many analysts to sound a note of caution and warn about a possible correction.

Top Gainer and Loser Stocks Today

Bharti Airtel stock was the top gainer, up 2.5% from Monday after it decided to raise Rs 21,000 crore via a rights issue to strengthen its balance sheet and after founder Sunil Mittal said the company won’t shy away from raising tariffs.

State-run Indian Oil Corp, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finserv and Shree Cement were among the other top gainers on the 50-stock Nifty. Tata Motors, Reliance Industries, Nestle, IndusInd Bank, and Mahindra & Mahindra were the biggest laggards.

Midcap, Smallcap and Sectoral Indices Today

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index was 0.7% higher at noon while the BSE SmallCap index gained 0.85%.

Among sectoral indexes, the BSE Healthcare Index was up 1.2% while BSE Metals gained 0.88%. The auto index was flat, weighed down losses in Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra.