Sensex Closes Above 66,000-Mark For 1st Time, Nifty At New Record High

Benchmark BSE Sensex closed above the historic 66,000 mark for the first time while NSE Nifty hit a new all-time closing high on Friday driven by heavy buying in IT counters and fresh foreign fund inflows.

Optimism in global equity markets also helped the local markets maintain their winning momentum for a second day.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 502.01 points or 0.77 per cent to settle at its new all-time closing high of 66,060.90. During the day, it rallied 600.9 points or 0.91 per cent to hit its all-time intra-day peak of 66,159.79.

The NSE Nifty went up by 150.75 points or 0.78 per cent to end at a new record high of 19,564.50. During the day, it reached its lifetime intra-day peak of 19,595.35, registering a jump of 181.6 points or 0.93 per cent.

From the Sensex pack, Tata Consultancy Services jumped over 5 per cent and Tech Mahindra rallied 4.51 per cent. Infosys, HCL Technologies, Wipro, Tata Steel, Nestle, Asian Paints, Larsen & Toubro and Hindustan Unilever were also among the major gainers.

On the other hand, Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid, Titan, Maruti, UltraTech Cement, NTPC and Axis Bank were among the laggards.

"The controlled inflation in the US has instilled optimism among investors that a 25-bps rate hike would be adequate to stabilise the US economy. This improved prospect has contributed to the strong buying of Indian IT stocks despite muted Q1 earnings.

"Furthermore, the broad-based rally in the domestic market was supported by India's consecutive third-month decrease in wholesale prices, along with the positive involvement of FIIs," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Devarsh Vakil, Deputy Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities said that benchmark indices settled at their fresh record closing highs on Friday on gains led by shares of IT majors.

Positive global cues, amid expectations that the US Federal Reserve may pause rate hikes after July, also gave a fillip to domestic markets, he said.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge climbed 1.14 per cent and midcap index jumped 1 per cent.

Among the indices, IT zoomed 4.30 per cent, teck jumped 3.74 per cent, metal (1.37 per cent), realty (1.19 per cent), services (1.14 per cent), telecommunication (1.08 per cent) and commodities (0.81 per cent).

Utilities, consumer durables and power were the laggards.

A total of 2,206 stocks advanced while 1,212 declined and 149 remained unchanged.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the green, while Tokyo settled lower. Equity markets in Europe were trading mostly with gains. The US markets ended in positive territory on Thursday.

The wholesale price-based inflation rate declined to (-) 4.12 per cent in June on easing prices of food, fuel and manufactured items.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Thursday as they bought equities worth Rs 2,237.93 crore after a day's breather, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.09 per cent to USD 81.29 a barrel.
 

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