Sensex, Nifty off Record Highs; Banking Shares Decline, IT Stocks Gain

Seven of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty PSU Bank index's nearly 1 per cent decline.

The Indian equity benchmarks came off record highs hit earlier in the session as banking, financial services and capital goods shares came under selling pressure. However, buying in information technology shares capped the downside for the benchmarks. Earlier in the session, Sensex rose as much as 341 points to hit record high of 52,641.53 and Nifty 50 index touched an all-time high of 15,835.55. Reliance Industries, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and HDFC twins were among the top movers in the Sensex. As of 12:18 pm, the Sensex was up 133 points at 52,434 and Nifty 50 index rose 13 points to 15,751. Seven of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty PSU Bank index's nearly 1 per cent decline. Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Media, Private Bank and Realty indices also declined 0.5-0.8 per cent. On the other hand, Nifty IT index rose 1.65 per cent.