Sensex turns choppy after hitting record high

In volatile trade, the benchmark BSE Sensex hit a new life-time high of 38,989.65, extending its record-setting spree for a third session on buying by domestic investors amid short-covering ahead of August futures and options (F&O) expiry and mixed Asian cues.

The 30-share index rose by 93.02 points, or 0.23%, to hit a new high of 38,989.65, bettering its previous intra-day record of 38,938.91 hit on Tuesday.

The index, however, turned choppy and was trading flat at 38,896.02 at 0945 hrs.

The gauge has rallied 644.83 points in the previous two sessions.

The 50-share NSE Nifty too turned cautious and was trading 14.70 points, or 0.12%, higher at 11,753.20.

Sentiment turned cautious ahead of August series F&O expiry scheduled tomorrow amid mixed cues from other Asian bourses, traders said.

Prominent gainers were Vedanta, Sun Pharma, Adani Ports, Tata Motors, HDFC, SBI, ONGC, RIL, Bharti Airtel, M&M, Axis Bank, Maruti Suzuki and NTPC, rising up to 2.06%.

Top losers include Coal India, Yes Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Infosys, HUL and ICICI Bank falling up to 1.97%.

Meanwhile, on a net basis, foreign funds sold shares worth ₹161.05 crore, while domestic institutional investors offloaded shares to the tune of ₹199.28 crore on Tuesday, provisional data showed.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei was up 0.51%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.07%, while Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.35% in their early sessions.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.069% higher on Tuesday.