Indian equity benchmark indices hit record highs Tuesday as a wave of bullishness driven by earnings and hopes of recovery hit investors. Sensex and Nifty shrugged off weakness in other Asian markets and closed almost 1.5 percent higher as gains in FMCG, IT, and financial sectors boosted the market.

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The Sensex closed 873 points higher at 53,873 and Nifty climbed 245 points to close at 16,130. The broader markets underperformed as mid-caps ended flat at 28,269 and small-caps closed in the red at 10,587.

During the session, Nifty50 hit 16,146 and BSE hit 53,887 -- lifetime highs for the benchmarks as they surpassed the earlier highs registered on July 16. The market breadth is neutral after today's session; the advance-decline ratio currently rests at 1:1.

According to analysts, the rally was driven by a bullish outlook on the corporate earnings front and vaccination drive.

"Nifty today finally managed to break its two-month-long consolidation to touch the most awaited level of 16k. It had shown strong resilience since the start of June and moved in a very narrow range despite weak global cues and finally managed to leap forward towards the 16,000 zone.

What really provided support to the market was the 1QFY22 earnings report which begun on a very healthy note despite the Covid 2.0 impact. It helped the market to largely sail through the headwinds of a possible third COVID wave, commodity led inflation and volatility around the US Fed taper talk," Sneha Poddar of Oswal Financial Services said.

On the Nifty50 index, Titan, HDFC, Nestle India, IndusInd Bank, and UltraCement were the top gainers, ending between 2.71-4.03 percent. On the other hand, JSW Steel, Shree Cement, Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel, and NTPC were the top laggards, losing between 0.08-0.76 percent.

The shares of Vodafone-Idea tanked 10 percent Tuesday to hit a fresh 52-week low of Rs 7.17 after Kumar Mangalam Birla offered to hand over his stake in the telco to a government entity.

Titan gained 4 percent ahead of its first-quarter earnings announcement and HDFC gained 4 percent on the backs of positive management commentary. HDFC contributed 38 points to Nifty's upmove.

IndusInd Bank surged over 3 percent after the Reserve Bank of India empanelled the bank as an agency for government sources. SBI, on the other hand, surged to a 52-week high ahead of its first-quarter earnings. The Street expects an improvement in the Net Interest Margin (NIM) this quarter, wrt to the previous quarter and the corresponding quarter in the previous year.

(Edited by : Yashi Gupta)

First Published:Aug 3, 2021 3:36 PM IST