Sensex zooms 569 pts to fresh record; Nifty tops 18,300-mark
MUMBAI: Extending its winning run to the sixth straight session, equity benchmark Sensex rallied 569 points to close at a new peak on Thursday, driven by gains in index majors HDFC twins, ICICI Bank and ITC amid positive macro cues and upbeat global markets.
Closing above the 61,000mark for the first time, the 30-share Sensex settled 568.90 points or 0.94% higher at 61,305.95. Similarly, the Nifty surged 176.80 points or 0.97% to a new lifetime closing high of 18,338.55.
ITC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 3%, followed by HDFC Bank, Powergrid, ICICI Bank, Indusind Bank and NTPC.
On the other hand, TCS, HCL Tech, Bajaj Finance and Asian Paints were among the laggards.
“The Indian market sustained its upbeat mood supported by positive global market, favourable inflation data and upmove in IT stocks following strong earning scorecards by sector majors,” Vinod Nair, head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said.
The wholesale price-based inflation eased to 10.66% in September, helped by moderating food prices even as crude petroleum witnessed a spike.
Retail inflation in September too slowed to a five-month low of 4.4% on moderating food prices.
“Banking stocks also contributed to the rally and remained in focus as the sector is set to kickstart its earnings season,” Nair added.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Seoul and Tokyo ended with strong gains, while Shanghai was in the red.
Stock exchanges in Europe were trading on a positive note in mid-session deals.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 1.02% to $84.03 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the rupee gained 11 paise to close at 75.26 against
the US dollar as heavy buying in domestic equities and weakness in the greenback strengthened investor sentiment.
Besides, fresh foreign capital inflows also helped the domestic unit post gains for a second straight day, forex traders said.
However, surging crude prices in the international market restricted the rupee’s gain, they added.
“Indian rupee appreciated for the second day as domestic equities continue to rally along with foreign fund inflows. Profit booking in dollar against major trading currencies after FOMC meeting minutes supported the rupee,” Dilip Parmar, research analyst, HDFC Securities, said.