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It was yet another record day for domestic stock markets as both Sensex and Nifty ended at all-time highs due to some fag-end buying by participants. Domestic sentiment was buoyed by gains in telecom stocks after Reliance Communications Ltd revealed a new debt-reduction plan with no write-offs.
The benchmark BSE index breached the 34,000-mark for the first time and ended higher by 70.31 points or 0.21 per cent at 34,010.61. The broader NSE index rose 38.5 points or 0.37 per cent to close at an all-time high of 10,531.50.
Shares of Reliance Communications ended 31.9 per cent higher after the company said it would reduce its debt by about Rs 25,000 crore through the sale of some of its spectrum, tower and real-estate assets. Bharti Airtel Ltd rose as much as 3.3 per cent and was the top percentage gainer on the NSE index.
Among BSE sectoral indices, realty index gained the most by 1.51 per cent, followed by metal 1.23 per cent, healthcare 0.86 per cent and infrastructure 0.54 per cent. Only PSU index was down 0.02 per cent. Mid-cap and small-cap indices continued to be on investors’ radar.
Top five Sensex gainers were Bharti Airtel (+2.59%), Sun Pharma (+1.88%), YES Bank (+1.74%), Tata Steel (+1.52%) and Dr Reddy's (+1.17%), while the major losers were NTPC (-1.14%), State Bank of India (-0.94%), Coal India (-0.88%), M&M (-0.64%) and HDFC Bank (-0.62%).
Stock markets have hit record highs this month after victories in key state elections by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party boosted investor sentiment, raising hopes of a continuation in the government's reform agenda. Trading is, however, likely to remain subdued as the year draws to a close.
“Markets are off to a flattish start and the NSE (index) has hit the psychological 10,500 mark,” said Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services. “Don't see much activity to push the markets higher as last week of the year is usually dull for financial markets.”
Analysts said domestic institutional buying and interest among retail investors amid robust foreign funds inflows lifted the domestic sentiment. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors bought shares worth Rs 107.87 crore, while domestic institutional investors had also purchased equities worth a net Rs 371.53 crore on Friday, as per provisional data.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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