Foreign funds propel indices to record highs NSE Nifty logs life-time high, ends above the 10,600 mark

Healthy buying from foreign funds, along with optimism over the upcoming quarterly earnings season catapulted the key equity indices -- the NSE Nifty50 and the S&P BSE Sensex -- to their record closing highs on Monday. Index-wise, the buoyant global cues lifted the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to close above the 10,600-points-level. It gained 64.75 points or 0.61 per cent to 10,623.60 points.

The Nifty50 touched a fresh intra-day high of 10,631.20 points. The barometer 30scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE too closed at a fresh high of 34,352.79 points -- up 198.94 points or 0.58 per cent from its previous close -- after it scaled a new intra-day high of 34,385.67 points. The Bombay Stock Exchange market breadth was bullish as 1,792 stocks advanced compared to 1,158 declines. "Markets rallied higher on Monday to close with gains for the fourth consecutive day. The Nifty touched record highs in intra day trade," Deepak Jasani, Head, Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS. "The rally came on the back of positive global cues," Jasani added.

Apart from key indices, even the broader market indices closed at fresh highs. The S&P BSE mid-cap index closed higher by 0.98 per cent at a new high of 18,247.55 points. The small-cap index edged up 0.97 per cent to close at a record high of 19,895.77 points. On the NSE, the Nifty50 mid-cap index edged higher by 1.19 per cent to close at a record high of 5,702.70 points. "Asian shares ex-Japan traded towards all-time peaks on Monday after Wall Street posted its best start to a year in over a decade," Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, told the news agency. The Indian rupee weakened by 14 paise to close at 63.51 against the US dollar from its previous close at 63.37.