Sensex hits record high, Nifty breaches 11,400 mark

Mumbai, August 6

Extending Friday's rally, the benchmark BSE Sensex jumped over 200 points to record a new high of 37,790.72 in early trade, and NSE Nifty breached the 11,400 mark today on widespread buying by consumer durables, PSU and banking counters amid firm Asian cues.

The Sensex spurted by 234.56 points, or 0.62 per cent, to hit a new high of 37,790.72, surpassing its previous record of 37,711.87 clocked on August 1.

While, Nifty also soared past 11,400 mark, by rising 62.80 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 11,423.60, breaching previous (intra-day) high of 11,390.55 on August 1.

Besides, fresh buying by domestic institutional investors (DIIs) and strengthening rupee also boosted investor sentiment here.

The market rally was driven by strong activity on the consumer durables, PSU, banking, healthcare, metal, power, infrastructure, IT, tech, auto, FMCG and oil and gas counters, rising up to 1.03 per cent.    The gauge gained 391 points in the past session on Friday after the weather office said monsoon will be normal in August and September, boosting growth prospects of the rural economy.

Major gainers include ICICI Bank, SBI, Yes Bank, Vedanta, Tata Steel, Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, Infosys, Coal India, Hero Motocorp, Tata Motors, ONGC, RIL, M&M, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto, NTPC, TCS, ITC, L&T and Power Grid, gaining up to 2.59 per cent.

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 87.08 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net of Rs 5.87 crore on Friday, provisional data showed.

Traders said positive cues from other Asian markets and fresh buying by domestic institutional investors, influenced sentiments here.

Overseas, Asian stocks were trading higher. US stocks closed higher on Friday as positive earnings surprises lifted shares.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.35 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.94 per cent, while Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.14 per cent in early trade.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.54 per cent higher on Friday's trade. PTI