Sensex tops 76,000, then beats a retreat

Mumbai: India's benchmark indices made fresh highs on Monday but gave up early gains as the sentiment remained edgy in the run-up to the election results on June 4. The Sensex crossed 76,000 and the Nifty crossed 23,100 for the first time but failed to close above these levels.

Nifty ended at 22,932.4, down 24.6 points or 0.11% over the previous day's closing. Sensex declined 19.8 points, or 0.03%. to end at 75,390.5. Both indices had gained as much as 0.8% earlier during the day.

Nifty could continue to make new highs after the elections and target 23,400 in the near term, said Pankaj Pandey, head of research at ICICIdirect.com.

The Volatility Index, or VIX, Dalal Street's fear gauge, shot up 6.8% to 23.19 - the highest closing in two years, extending its recent uptrend that reflects traders' perception of near-term risks in the market.

"The VIX may continue rising till next Tuesday, the day of the results, and may top out and end lower by the end of it," said Apurva Sheth, head of research at Samco Securities.

The VIX has soared 112% in the past month as traders have been nervous about the outcome of the general election results.

Sheth also said he would suggest investors to wait and watch until next week.

"Traders can apply the calendar-spread strategy to make gains, where they can sell Put and Call options for the June 6 expiry and hedge it with the same strike positions of next week so they can benefit from a crash in VIX," he said.

Nifty Midcap 150 gained 0.42% and Nifty Small-cap 250 rose 0.47% on Monday. Out of the 4,105 stocks traded, 2,323 declined, while 1,650 advanced.

Elsewhere in Asia, China advanced 1.14%, Hong Kong rose 1.17%, South Korea gained 1.32% and Taiwan rose 1.23%.

The pan-Europe index Stoxx 600 was flat at the time of going to print.

At home, Foreign portfolio investors net sold shares worth ₹541.22 crore. Domestic institutions were buyers to the tune of ₹922.60 crore.