Mumbai
The key Indian equity indices closed at new highs on Tuesday aided by healthy buying in health care, banking and automobile stocks.
The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE closed at 31,159.40 points — a new closing high — up 50.12 points or 0.16 per cent, after scaling a new intra-day high of 31,220.38 points.
The wider 51-scrip NSE Nifty provisionally closed at a new high of 9,624.55 points — up 19.65 points or 0.20 per cent.
The BSE market breadth, however, was bearish — with 1,454 declines and 1,224 advances.
On Monday, the NSE Nifty closed at 9,604.90 points, while the Sensex closed at 31,109.28 points.
Monsoon rains hit Kerala and the North East on Tuesday, two days before the normal onset date, boosting optimism about a rebound in the rural economy.
Brokers said emergence of profit-booking by investors in recent gainers at record levels amid continued foreign fund outflows and muted earnings posted by some blue chip companies mainly pulled down the key indices from their peaks.
Meanwhile, Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs7.09 billion, while Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares to the tune of Rs2.9 billion on Monday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
In the Asian region, Japan’s Nikkei was down 0.54 per cent in early trade. Hong Kong and Chinese markets are shut on Tuesday. The US markets also remained closed on Monday.
