In yet another milestone-filled day on Dalal Street, Sensex scaled 76,000 points for the first time on Monday with the benchmark indices hitting fresh peaks for the third consecutive session. However, the indices failed to hold on to the day’s gains due to profit booking in the last trading hour as volatility continued to rise ahead of the counting of votes for Lok Sabha elections on June 4.

This was the second consecutive session when the benchmark indices failed to hold on to their gains after hitting fresh lifetime highs.

On Monday, Sensex rose to 76,009.68 points in intraday trading, while the Nifty 50 also hit record high of 23,110.80 points, surpassing 23,100 points for the first time. Sensex closed flat from previous session at 75,390.50 points, while the Nifty fell 0.1% to 22,932.45 points.

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“Sensex hitting 76000 and our market cap crossing US$5 trillion is a testament to India’s growth story. Our robust macroeconomic landscape coupled with strong corporate balance sheets, stable earnings and strong inflows have led to these gains,” said Shreyash Devalkar, head equity at Axis Mutual Fund.

However, Devalkar added that the Valuations remain elevated compared to historical levels in most parts of the market, and hence returns may be moderate in the near term.

Foreign Institutional Investors remained sellers despite bouts of buying last week, while domestic institutional investors continued to pump money into the market. According to the provisional data, FIIs net sold shares worth Rs 541.22 crores, while DIIs net bought Rs 922.60 crores of shares on Monday.

Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities said though the market is hitting new highs incrementally, it is not able to hold on to these gains because of the uncertainty ahead of June 4 event.

This reflected in the volatility gauge India VIX, which jumped nearly 7% to 23.19 level, as six of the seven phases of voting got completed. Experts believe market is likely to continue consolidating with positive bias until the outcome of the election is clear.

“The presence of resistance around the 23,100 level in the Nifty, along with a rise in the volatility index, India VIX, limited the upside. We may see further consolidation in the index ahead, so participants should focus on careful stock selection and effective trade management,” said Ajit Mishra, senior vice president of research at Religare Broking.

The positive momentum in the market has been driven by restricted selling by FIIs and strong gains in the shares of banking stocks.

The Nifty Bank index rose 0.6% today, outperforming the benchmark indices for the third consecutive session. HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and State Bank of India were among top contributors to the benchmark indices gains on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Adani Enterprises and Wipro fell following the announcement of BSE’s semi-annual rejig after the market hours on Friday. Wipro fell over 2% as it is set to be replaced by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone in the Sensex. Adani Enterprises fell nearly 3% on profit booking as the stock had risen last week in anticipation of entry into Sensex.