The index gained 0.15% or 102.93 points to close at 69,928.53 after hitting a high of 70,057.83. The Nifty advanced 0.13% or 27.70 points to close at 20,997.10 after hitting an all-time high of 21,026.10 on Monday. This was the second session that the NSE benchmark attempted to close above the 21,000 milestone but fell short of it.
Analysts said the recent tentativeness in the market around these milestones is on concerns that stocks are overbought after the recent run-up. But, the undertone remains positive with foreign investors continuing to pump money into domestic equities and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s performance in the state elections raising hopes of its victory in the 2024 general elections.
The Sensex and Nifty have advanced close to 7.5% in the last month.
FPIs net bought shares worth ₹1,261.13 crore on Monday, while their domestic counterparts were sellers to the tune of ₹1,032.92 crore. So far in December, foreigners have been buyers to the tune of ₹31,760 crore after pumping ₹9,000 crore into the market the previous month.
Analysts said investors are awaiting the outcome of the US Federal Reserve’s rate-setting meeting on December 13 for further direction.
“This week 3-4 central banks will be announcing their monetary policies which may result in range-bound movement in the market,” said Sneha Poddar, associate vice president-equity research at Motilal Oswal.Wall Street expects the US central bank to maintain policy rates at 5.25-5.50% for the third consecutive meeting. Investors are more keen on hearing from the Fed on the direction of interest rates.
“Since the market’s outlook hinges on the global interest rate outlook, the next bigger trigger would be the interest rate policy,” said Pankaj Pandey, research head at ICICIdirect. “However, the market momentum is expected to be maintained.”
Out of 30 stocks traded on the BSE, 19 advanced while 10 declined on Monday. UltraTech Cement, Power Grid and Nestle emerged as the top gainers, gaining 1% to 3%.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong declined 0.81%, South Korea ended 0.30% higher, and Indonesia declined 0.99%. Taiwan ended 0.20% up and China gained 0.74%. The pan-Europe index Stoxx 600 gained 0.36% at the time of going to print on Monday.