Sensex ends at record high, crosses 702 pts, Nifty holds 21,650

Santa Claus rally is on!the key domestic share market indices traded higher on Wednesday tracking upbeat global market mood and amid hopes of Fed rates starting early next year. Buying was seen across the board. As benchmark NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex scaled to fresh lifetime high levels towards the end of the trading session,market watchers believe that the Santa Claus rally is on and bulls will continue to rule the Street ahead of the monthly F&O expiry.At close, the Sensex was up 701.63 points or 0.98 percent at 72,038.43, and the Nifty was up 213.40 points or 1 percent at 21,654.75.
Stocks and Sectors
Hindalco Industries, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Auto, JSW Steel and Tata Motors were the top gainers on the Nifty, while losers included ONGC, NTPC, Adani Enterprises, UPL and Adani Ports.
On the sectoral front, except for oil & gas and Power, all other sectoral indices ended in the green with the auto, bank and metal up 1 percent each.BSE midcap and smallcap indices ended with marginal gains.
On 27 Dec'23,the Indian rupee fell 4 paise to close at 83.23 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday,amid sustained outflow of foreign funds and a stronger American currency against major overseas rivals.Forex traders said positive domestic equity market failed to boost sentiment as investors remained concerned over volatile crude oil prices fearing disruption in global trade through the Red Sea route.
Experts Take:
"The resilience of the market even in the holiday season, which is normally devoid of much action, is an indication of its underlying bullishness. The global support to the market from the mother market US where the S&P 500 is close to all-time high is significant. Investors should give priority to high quality bluechips which are doing well and have good earnings visibility," said Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Market experts have recommended six stocks to buy for Wednesday- GMDC, Tata Chemicals, Exide Industries, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Deepak Nitrite, and Laurus Labs.

(Writer is a Finance Research Analyst, based in Gandhinagar, Gujarat)