MUMBAI: The
sensex and Nifty soared to new lifetime highs on Thursday, fuelled by intense buying in market heavyweights Reliance, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank amid a recent surge in foreign capital inflows. Besides, stable global crude prices extended support to capital markets amid investors looking for fresh triggers, traders said.
Rallying for the sixth straight session, the sensex climbed 141 points to settle at a new closing peak of 77,479.During the day, it surged 306 points to 77,643. The sensex has jumped 1,022 points or 1.3% in the last six days. Meanwhile, Nifty rose 51 points to settle at its fresh closing high of 23,567. Intraday, it soared 108 points to 23,624.
“FIIs have been net buyers in Indian equities for the last three days and have bought Rs 12,600 crore, which includes a few large block deals. On the domestic front, the market is consolidating with a positive bias amid strong FII flows and healthy macros. Also, an expectation of a growth-focused Budget is aiding sentiments and is likely to lead to sector-specific action,” said Siddhartha Khemka, head (retail research), Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
Among the sensex companies, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Asian Paints were the biggest gainers. In contrast, Mahindra & Mahindra, Sun Pharma, NTPC, Wipro, SBI and Power Grid were among the laggards.
“Markets were a bit volatile in early trade but settled in positive territory to move in a range-bound manner thereafter, as investors resorted to stock-specific selection after witnessing record-breaking spree over the past few sessions,” Prashanth Tapse, senior VP (research), Mehta Equities, said.