STOCKS PULL OFF NEW PEAKS, POST THIRD WEEKLY GAINS

Stock indices on Friday closed on a merry note ahead of Christmas as benchmarks Sensex and Nifty rallied to alltime peaks, with IT, technology and capital goods running the show. While the Sensex came within the kissing distance of 34,000, the Nifty ended slightly short of 10,500. Intra-day, both scaled life highs.

“Passage of US tax reform bill aimed at reducing corporate tax rates and strong US Q3 GDP growth led the rally in global markets, which was extended to the domestic market and Nifty hit an all time high 10,500 (during the day). The expectation of a good Budget and strong H2 FY18 earnings is supporting this rally,” said Vinod Nair, research head, Geojit Financial Services.

The 30-share BSE Sensex opened on a strong footing at 33,768.47 and hit a fresh intra-day high of 33,964.28. It ended at 33,940.30, a new closing, up 184.02 points, or 0.55%. The previous closing record was on December 19 when it had finished at 33,836.74. The index had lost 80 points in the last two sessions.

For the broader Nifty, the close came at a fresh peak of 10,493, up 52.70 points, or 0.50%, breaking its previous record of 10,463.20 hit on December 19.

For the third straight week, the Sensex advanced, notching up a significant 477.33 points, or 1.42%. The Nifty was up 159.75 points, or 1.54%, during the week.

IT was a clear winner of the day, riding on a big order win by TCS. Soft crude prices and a strong rupee gave fodder to bulls.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley said in the Lok Sabha that according to the NITI Aayog, the revised projection for infrastructure investment in 2012-17 is ₹38,22,822 crore, 1.6 times the investment of ₹23,77,746 crore achieved in 2007-12 at current prices.

The stock exchanges will remain closed on Monday for Christmas.

MUMBAI: