Sensex advanced 383 points to close at an all-time high of 52,232.
The Indian equity benchmarks closed at record highs on Thursday after showing lacklutre trend in the previous two sessions. The benchmarks staged a gap up opening wherein the Sensex rose as much as 424 points and the Nifty 50 index touched record high of 15,705.10. Markets are gaining on hopes of faster economic revival as declining trend of Coronavirus infections continue in the country, analysts said. HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC, Titan and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the top movers in the Sensex.
The Sensex advanced 383 points to close at an all-time high of 52,232 and Nifty 50 index climbed 114 points to close at record high of 15,690.
With 1.34 lakh fresh Covid cases, the “declining trend continues”, the Health Ministry said this morning, adding that “active caseload has further declined to 17,13,413”. The positivity rate was recorded below 10 per cent for the tenth straight day.
Investors also eyed the Reserve Bank of India’s meeting on Friday where it is expected to keep its key rate at a record low but reaffirm its commitment to provide adequate liquidity as the country grapples with a deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Buying was visible across sectors as all the 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange, barring the index of pharma shares, ended higher. Nifty Realty index was top sectoral gainer, the index rose over 3 per cent. Nifty Media, Bank, Metal and Private Bank indices also rose in the range of 0.7-1.2 per cent.
Mid- and small-cap shares outperformed their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 1 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 1.2 per cent.
Titan was top Nifty gainer, the stock surged over 7 per cent to record high of Rs 1,702 following surge in gold prices on the MCX.
ONGC, Eicher Motors, Larsen & Toubro, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Adani Ports, Shree Cements, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Grasim Industries were also among the gainers.
On the flipside, IndusInd Bank, Wipro, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto, Power Grid, HCL Technologies, Cipla, Mahindra & Mahindra and Sun Pharma were among the losers.
The overall market breadth was extremely positive as 2,188 shares ended higher while 986 closed lower on the BSE.