Sensex, Nifty Log Third Straight Gain, Close at New Highs
Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty continued their winning run for the third straight session today and hit yet another record closing high on buying in pharma and IT stocks amid optimism over US-China trade talks.
Mumbai, Aug 21: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty continued their winning run for the third straight session today and hit yet another record closing high on buying in pharma and IT stocks amid optimism over US-China trade talks.
The BSE Sensex though ended marginally higher by 7 points but still managed to end at a new peak of 38,285.75, surpassing its previous record closing of 38,278.75 hit yesterday.
The 30-share index also went on to hit its life-time high (intra-day) at 38,402.96 points in day's trade. Its previous intra-day high was 38,340.69, reached yesterday. During the day, it touched a low of 38,213.87.
The broader NSE Nifty also logged its fresh closing high of 11,570.90, up 19.15 points or 0.17 per cent. The 50-issue index surpassed its previous record closing of 11,551.75, marked yesterday. The Nifty also met its intra-day record high at 11,581.75, breaking its previous day's record of 11,565.30. The index slipped to low of 11,539.60 during the day's trade.
Unabated buying by domestic institutional investors (DIIs) and positive sentiment in world markets helped domestic markets scale fresh highs today, brokers said.
Investors have kept their eyes ion US-China trade talks and are optimistic about a positive outcome. The tariff war between them has been keeping global markets uncertain for a while now.
But, the trade talks between the two major economies, which are scheduled to take place through Tuesday and Wednesday this week, have led to an improvement in market sentiments, they added.
Among the Sensex constituents, Coal India was the top gainer by climbing 2.59 per cent to close at Rs 291.55 after reports indicated that the government is planning to sell some minority stake in the company.
Other gainers were Axis Bank, NTPC, Sun Pharma, Wipro, RIL, ONGC, Maruti Suzuki, TCS, ICICI Bank and Hero Motocorp, rising up to 1.92 per cent. While, Tata Steel, HUL, Vedanta, M&M, Bharti Airtel, Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Bank, Asian Paints, HDFC, Bajaj Auto and SBI fell by up to 2.86 per cent.
Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 593.22 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net of Rs 483.04 crore yesterday, provisional data showed.