Hindu Business Line file photo

Chennai, India (BBN) – The Sensex and Nifty were trading flat after hitting fresh life-time highs in early trade.
At 11:25am, the 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 3.05points or 0.01 per cent at 31,156.35 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 4.8 points or 0.05 per cent at 9,619.75, reports The Hindu Business Line.
Among BSE sectoral indices, auto index was the star-performer and was up 1.03 per cent, followed by power 0.72 per cent, capital goods 0.61 per cent and consumer durables 0.6 per cent. On the other hand, metal index was down 0.99 per cent, TECk 0.25 per cent, FMCG 0.2 per cent and IT 0.18 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were M&M (+5.8%), Lupin (+2.82%), Power Grid (+2.16%), GAIL (+1.44%) and Maruti (+0.84%), while the major losers were Cipla (-0.99%), ONGC (-0.95%), Sun Pharma (-0.94%), Infosys (-0.72%) and HUL (-0.64%).
EARLY TRADE
The BSE Sensex hit a fresh record high of 31,233 by surging over 74 points, and the NSE Nifty touched a fresh life-time high of 9,638 in early trade today on sustained buying by domestic institutional investors.
Rising for the fifth straight day, the 30-share index rose 74.28 points or 0.23 per cent to hit a new peak of 31,233.68.
The gauge had gained almost 857.76 points in the previous four sessions to close at a record high at 31,159.40 in yesterday’s session. It had also touched an intra-day lifetime high of 31,220.38 in the previous session.
The 50-share NSE Nifty gained 14.15 points, or 0.14 per cent, to scale its lifetime high of 9,638.70. The gauge had touched an intra-day high of 9,637.75 on May 29.
DII BUYING
Continued buying by domestic institutional investors (DIIs) helped the key indices to hit record hits, brokers said.
Besides, the sentiment remained extremely bullish as investors cheered the early arrival of monsoon and engaged in widening their positions, they said.
Meanwhile, DIIs bought shares worth a net Rs. 366.97 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs. 217.10 crore yesterday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
ASIAN SHARES
Asian stocks climbed on Wednesday, capping a fifth consecutive month of gains, as data showed China’s factory activity grew at a steady clip this month, bucking expectations of a slowdown.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 per cent on Wednesday, with Chinese stocks leading the region higher as investors returned from a long holiday break. Japan’s Nikkei dipped 0.1 per cent.
US stocks inched lower on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 retreating slightly from a record, as weakness in the energy and financial sectors outweighed gains in technology shares.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 50.81 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 21,029.47, the S&P 500 lost 2.91 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 2,412.91 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 7.01 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 6,203.19.
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