Stock market indices touched sky high on Monday as bulls rode on banking and financial counters. Amid contained COVID-19 infections, Budget boost and economic revival, frontline indices gained over 1 per cent, while mid-cap stocks outperformed their large-cap peers. 

The headline S&P BSE Sensex closed above the 52,000 mark for the first time on gains of 610 points, or 1.18 per cent, at the 52,154 level. In the intra-day trade, the index hit a record high of 52,177.5. Axis Bank (up 6 per cent) ended the day as top gainer on the index, followed by gains in ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, SBI, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC, IndusInd Bank and HDFC Bank – all up between 2 and 4 per cent. However, losses in TCS, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Tech Mahindra, HUL, Asian Paints and HCL Tech – all down by up to 1.8 per cent – capped gains. 

The NSE’s Nifty50 too hit a record high of 15,327 in the intra-day trade before ending at the 15,315 mark, up 151 points or 1 per cent. About 22 stocks declined on the index today, compared with 28 stocks that advanced. SBI Life, HDFC Life, TCS, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Grasim and Tech M were the top losers on the index. 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index closed around 1.4 per cent higher with up to 14 per cent gains in Cholamandalam Finance, Apollo Hospitals, Adani Transmissions, LIC Housing Finance, Adani Enterprises and M&M Finance. On the contrary, the S&P BSE SmallCap index closed 0.4 per cent higher. 

On the sectoral front, the Nifty Bank index stole the show and hit a new peak of 37,309, up 1,200 points in intra-day trade. The index closed 1,197 points, or 3.3 per cent, higher at 37,306. That apart, the Nifty Financial Services index and the Private Bank index ended nearly 3 per cent higher each. On the downside, the Nifty IT and Nifty Metal indices closed 0.4 per cent lower.