MUMBAI, Apr 21 (Business Standard): Benchmark share indices ended at fresh all-time closing highs on Monday, amid aggressive buying in late trades, with capital goods and bank shares leading the gains.
The 30-share Sensex gained 136 points to end at 22,765 and the 50-share Nifty ended up 38 points at 6,818.
Surprisingly, the India VIX which had surged to 16 per cent intra-day finally ended up 11 per cent at 34.22. The rise in volatility indicates that traders are hedging their risks for the May series to protect their positions incase of a trend reversal in the markets. Generally, the India VIX has an inverse relationship with the market trend.
The rupee was trading sharply lower at 60.42 compared with its Thursday's close of 60.29/30 on account of the dollar demand from importers of crude oil.
Asian stocks ended lower as traders remained cautious over the emerging crisis in Ukraine. Meanwhile, stocks in Japan pared gains to end marginally lower. The Nikkei ended down 0.03 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite was down 1.5 per cent amid economic growth woes. Straits Times ended up 0.1 per cent. Hang Seng was closed for Easter holiday.
Major European stock markets are closed today on account of Easter holiday.
BSE Capital Goods index was the top gainer, up 2.9 per cent, followed by Metal, Auto, Bankex, Power and Consumer Durables indices, up 0.4-2.2 per cent each.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have been stocking up capital goods stocks on expectations that policies of the new government at the centre would help kick-start the investment / capex cycle. L&T was the top Sensex gainer, up 4 per cent, while BHEL ended up 3.1 per cent at Rs 187.
In the banking space, SBI, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank were up 1.5-2.6 per cent each.
Among the auto majors, M&M ended up 3.5 per cent, Maruti Suzuki gained 2.2 per cent and Tata Motors ended up 0.8 per cent.
