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The Sensex and Nifty hit record closing highs for a third straight session on Monday on positive macro data which were announced after trading hours on Friday and encouraging earnings posted by some bluechip companies coupled with a firm global trend.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended higher by 251.12 points or 0.73 per cent at 34,843.51 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty rose 60.3 points or 0.56 per cent at 10,741.55. The Sensex resumed higher at 34,687.21 and then jumped to a new all-time intra-day high of 34,963.69, surpassing its previous record of 34,638.42, clocked on Friday.
Among BSE sectoral indices, banking index was the star-performer and was up 1.25 per cent, followed by consumer durables 1.13 per cent, power 0.29 per cent and metal 0.22 per cent. On the other hand, auto index fell 0.89 per cent, oil & gas 0.7 per cent, infrastructure 0.65 per cent and IT 0.48 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were HDFC (+6.17%), ICICI Bank (+3.73%), Kotak Bank (+1.94%), Tata Steel (+1.58%), and HDFC Bank (+1.55%), while the major losers were ONGC (-1.85%), Hero MotoCorp (-1.57%), IndusInd Bank (-1.41%), YES Bank (-1.38%) and Sun Pharma (-1.34%).
Shares of Infosys, India’s second largest IT exporter, ended up by 0.19 per cent at Rs 1,080.40, reacting to Q3 earnings. The IT major had on Friday reported a 38.3 per cent growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 5,129 crore for the October- December quarter and maintained its FY 2017-18 sales growth outlook at 5.5-6.5 per cent in constant currency terms.
Brokers said a robust industrial production (IIP) growth to 17-month high of 8.4 per cent in November despite the retail inflation logging a 17-month high of 5.2 per cent in December supported the sentiment.
The rupee surged by 24 paise to 63.39 against the greenback in late morning deals on sustained bouts of dollar selling from banks and importers banks amid rallying local equities and weak dollar overseas.
As per provisional data, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 158.16 crore on net basis, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities to the tune of Rs 696.25 crore last Friday.
Asian shares
Asian shares hit historic highs on Monday after Wall Street extended its record-breaking run, while the US dollar retreat continued as investors priced in the risk of tighter policies elsewhere in the developed world. Activity was restrained somewhat as a US holiday curbed trade in cash Treasuries, though E-Mini futures for the S&P500 still made gains of 0.22 per cent.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.6 per cent, having finally cleared the former all-time top of 591.50 from late 2007. Australia's main index firmed 0.2 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei added 0.3 per cent. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at new high by surging 0.89 per cent in Friday’s trade.
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