Mumbai: Rising for the fifth day, benchmark Sensex today gained 288 points to end at new peak of 26,390.96 and the Nifty soared 83 points to close at new high of 7,874.25 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's August 15 pledge to boost infrastructure and manufacturing fired up markets. Opening after a long weekend, stock markets were in a cheerful mood as investors infused funds to pick up shares across-the-spectrum.
Sustained buying by foreign funds and firm European trends also helped, brokers said. Besides, a fall in global crude oil prices following receding geo-political concerns sustained the positive mood on domestic bourses as India imports nearly 80 per cent of its oil requirements, they added.
Buying was seen mainly across-the-board as 10 out of 12 BSE sectoral indices closed with gains of between 0.26 per cent and 2.64 per cent. Oil&gas, banking, capital goods, power and metal shares led the charge while select FMCG and IT counters attracted profit-booking.
“Markets witnessed a strong rally, which was boosted by positive statements from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who emphasised the need for better governance and focus on improving infrastructure and manufacturing sector,” said Nidhi Saraswat, Senior Research Analyst, Bonanza Portfolio.
The S&P BSE 30-share Sensex resumed slightly better and gradually improved further to an intra-day all-time peak of 26,413.11 before settling at new high of 26,390.96, showing a spurt of 287.73 points or 1.10 per cent. In straight five sessions, it has now zoomed 1,061.82 points or 4.19 per cent. ICICI Bank, ONGC, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, Cipla and BHEL were among prominent gainers in 24 Sensex counters that rose.
The Sensex's previous all-time high was 26300.17 hit on July 25, 2014. It earlier closing peak was 26271.85 (July 24). Similarly, the 50-issue CNX Nifty of the NSE logged an intra-day new high of 7,880.50 before ending up by 82.55 points, or 1.06 per cent at 7,874.25 - a new closing peak. The Nifty hit previous all-time high of 7840.95 on July 25. Its earlier closing peak of 7830.60 was hit on July 24. Buying today was mainly boosted by consistent buying by foreign institutional investors (FIIs), who had picked up shares worth Rs 2,143.97 crore last week. Meanwhile, Asian stocks closed mixed while Europe was trading higher in late morning deals.
Key indices from China and Japan finished with gains while those from Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan settled with losses. Japan's Nikkei index, however, ended stable. In Europe, the CAC index was up 1.13 per cent, the DAX by 1.39 per cent and the FTSE by 0.59 per cent. Overall, 24 shares from Sensex pack closed in the green while five finished in the red and Wipro settled steady.
ONGC firmed up by 5.33 per cent, Cipla 4.85 per cent, Axis Bank 4.29 per cent, Tata Motors 3.98 per cent, ICICI Bank 3.54 per cent, Bharti Airtel 2.59 per cent and SBI 2.48 per cent. L&T 2.30 per cent, Hindalco 2.13 per cent, Coal India 1.99 per cent, HUL 1.48 per cent, Maruti Suzuki 1.46 per cent, Tata Power 1.43 per cent, Sesa Sterlite 1.40 per cent and RIL 1.13 per cent.
Among laggards, ITC (-1.68 per cent), Infosys (1.26 per cent), HDFC (1.04 per cent), TCS (-0.40 per cent) and Hero MotoCorp (-0.06 per cent) ended down. Jignesh Chaudhary, Head of Research, Veracity Broking Services said: “We witnessed local markets touching new all time highs with the help of FIIs. Recent better-than-expected data released by different countries also cheered the global stock markets.”
Among S&P BSE sectoral indices, Oil&Gas rose by 2.64 per cent, Bankex 2.36 per cent, Capital Goods 2.33 per cent, Consumer Durables 1.71 per cent, Auto 1.59 per cent, Power 1.51 per cent, Metal 1.47 per cent and Realty 1.37 per cent. The overall market breadth remained strong as 1,930 shares ended higher while 1,003 finished lower. Small caps and midcaps participated well in the rally.
