Benchmark indices ended higher for the eighth straight session on Thursday, logging fresh record closing highs, amid strong global market trends. Buying in IT stocks also added to gains. Sensex climbed 184.54 points or 0.29 per cent to end at 63,284.19, its fresh record closing high. During the day, it zoomed 483.42 points or 0.76 per cent to 63,583.07, its lifetime intra-day peak. Nifty rose 54.15 points or 0.29 per cent to end at 18,812.50, its fresh record closing high.
Top Gainers
UltraTech Cement (2.86%), Tata Steel (2.79%), Tata Consultancy Services (2.44%), Tech Mahindra (2.27%), Wipro (1.63%) and Infosys (1.54%) were among the top Sensex gainers.
Top Losers
ICICI Bank (1.41%), Mahindra & Mahindra (1.06%), Power Grid (0.94%) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (0.65%) were among the top Sensex losers.
Share Market News Highlights: Sensex, Nifty at fresh closing highs, extend gains for 8th straight day; UltraTech Cement, Hindalco top gainers
“Fed chief Jerome Powell’s observation that ‘it makes sense to moderate the pace of rate hikes’ has come as a shot in the arm for the bulls to take the ongoing rally forward,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Market breadth was positive with 2033 shares closing higher against 1463 stocks falling on BSE. 140 shares were unchanged.
IT shares were the top gainers with their BSE index rising 620 points to 31,131. Market cap of BSE-listed firms rose to a record Rs 289.88 lakh crore. BSE mid cap and small cap indices rose 161 points and 185 points, respectively.
Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities said, “The Nifty bulls took the index to a new life high on robust global cues. However, the index closed 75 points off the day’s high as the index found resistance at the higher levels. The RSI on the daily chart has given a falling trendline breakout. Over the short term, the trend is likely to remain positive. On the higher end, resistance is pegged at 18,900-19,000; whereas, supports are placed at 18,700/18,500.”
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 9,010.41 crore on Wednesday, as per NSE data.
Previous session
Sensex closed above the 63,000 mark for the first time on Wednesday, extending its winning streak to seventh day amid a largely positive trend in global markets and continuous foreign fund inflows. The 30-stock index zoomed 417.81 points or 0.67 per cent to end at 63,099.65, its fresh record closing high. It hit its lifetime high of 63,303.01, rising 621.17 points or 0.99 per cent. Nifty rose 140.30 points or 0.75 per cent to close at 18,758.35, its fresh record closing high.
Global markets
Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended higher. Equity exchanges in Europe were trading mostly in the green in the afternoon trade. Wall Street had ended significantly higher on Wednesday. International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.40 per cent higher at $87.32 per barrel.