Sensex opens at fresh peak; succumbs to profit-booking in early trade

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Equity benchmark Sensex opened over 200 points higher on Thursday, but soon pared its initial gains on profit-booking and was trading in the negative territory amid a mixed trend in global markets. After opening at its lifetime peak of 54,576.64, the 30-share index turned flat, slipping 8.33 points or 0.02 per cent to 54,361.44.

In similar movement, the broader NSE Nifty inched 8.95 points or 0.06 per cent lower to 16,249.85 in early trade. IndusInd Bank was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding around 2 per cent, followed by Titan, Tata Steel, M&M, Bajaj Finance and SBI. On the other hand, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra and Kotak Bank were among the gainers.

In the previous session, Sensex rallied 546.41 points or 1.02 per cent to end at its new record of 54,369.77, and Nifty surged 128.05 points or 0.79 per cent to its all-time peak of 16,246.85. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 2,828.57 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional exchange data.

Domestic equities look to be flat as of now. Sharp rebound in market in last two trading days was not broad-based and sharp rebound in heavyweight financials contributed to rally, said Binod Modi Head-Strategy at Reliance Securities.

However, huge profit-booking in mid-cap and small-cap stocks was visible, he said, adding that going forward, given sharp improvement in key economic indicators like GST collection and auto sales volume, "we believe strong momentum of corporate earnings recovery may sustain in subsequent quarters".

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai and Tokyo were trading with gains in mid-session deals, while Hong Kong and Seoul were in the red. Equities on Wall Street largely ended on a negative note in overnight trade. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude advanced 0.38 per cent to USD 70.65 per barrel.

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