Sensex, Nifty hit new highs in Muhurat trade, Gold ends steady silver falls

Mumbai –  The first trading session of Samvat 2070 year ended on a positive note on Sunday with the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty settling at new all-time closing high of 21,239.36 and 6,317.35 respectively, extending gains for the fifth straight session.

Buying was mainly seen across-the-board as 12 out of BSE 13 sectoral indices closed in the green locking gains of between 0.1 per cent and 0.78 per cent. The BSE Bankex, however, ended with a fall of 0.12 per cent.

The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer resumed strong at 21,278.08. It hit a new intra-day record high of 21,321.53, before paring some gains to settle at an historic closing high of 21,239.36 — a rise of 42.55 points.

The 50-share Nifty of the NSE also recorded its an all-time closing high of 6,317.35, surpassing its previous closing high of 6,312.45 registered on November 5, 2010.

The Nifty, however, failed to cross its all-time intra-day high of 6,357.10 logged on January 1, 2008. Today, it touched a high of 6,342.95.

Though there was no usual trading on Sunday, a special 75-minute Muhurat trading session is permitted on the stock markets.

Foreign Institutional Investors bought shares worth a net Rs. 186.95 crore on November 1, 2013 as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

Among the 30-share Sensex pack, 22 stocks closed with gains while eight of them fell. Tata Motors lead the Sensex gainers with a rise of 1.74 per cent, followed by Jindal Steel (1.13 per cent), Sun Pharma (0.95 per cent), Maruti Suzuki (0.86 per cent), Tata Power (0.85 per cent) and BHEL (0.84 per cent). Among notable losers, ICICI Bank eased by 0.65 per cent and M&M by 0.52 per cent.

Initial gains were minimised as some investors booked profits to write their first entry with gains on the first special Muhurat session of Hindu Samvat 2070 year, said brokers.

Reflecting smart rise in second-line stocks, 1,556 stocks closed in the green while only 473 lost ground. The BSE-Midcap and BSE-Smallcap firmed up by 1.05 per cent and 1.37 per cent, outperforming the BSE Sensex.

Stock markets will remain closed on Monday on account of Balipratipada and resume regular trading the day after.

Whereas  Gold prices ended steady at Rs 31,300 per ten grams in special Diwali trading in New Delhi on Sunday on selective buying, while silver fell by Rs 150 to Rs 49,000 per kg on reduced off-take.

Traders said the gold remained steady on token buying by market participants to mark the beginning of new Hindu Samvat year 2070, while silver declined on lack of support.

They said buying activity was restricted and the volume of business limited.

Gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purity held steady at Rs 31,300 and Rs 31,200 per ten grams respectively, while sovereign ruled flat at Rs 25,300 per piece of eight gram.

On the other hand, silver ready declined by Rs 150 to Rs 49,000 per kg while weekly-based delivery traded up by Rs 25 to Rs 48,700 per kg on stray speculative buying.

Silver coins continued to be asked at last level of Rs 87,000 for buying and Rs 88,000 for selling of 100 pieces.