Sensex, Nifty hit new highs; metal, banking stocks soar

Mumbai: Markets continued their upward march for the fourth straight session on Tuesday, with the BSE Sensex galloping over 522 points to close at a new peak of 28,784.67 and the NSE Nifty breaching the 8,700-mark for the first time, driven by a strong rally in metal and banking sector stocks.

The BSE 30-share Sensex resumed on a positive note and touched a new all-time intra-day high of 28,829.29, surpassing its previous high of 28,822.37, recorded on November 28.

It shed some gains on profit-booking and settled at a new closing peak of 28,784.67, up 522.66 points, or 1.85%.

The Sensex surpassed its previous record of 28,693.99, touched on November 28.

In four days, the index has now gained almost 1,438 points.

Similarly, the broader 50-issue NSE Nifty breached the 8,700-mark to hit a new intra-day peak at 8,707.90, bettering its record of 8,626.95 hit on December 4. However, due to profit-taking at record levels, it shed some grounds to close at 8,695.60, still a new high, up by 144.90 points or 1.69%. It broke the previous record of 8,588.25 reached on November 28.

Brokers said investor sentiments remained upbeat since the RBI's surprise rate cut last week coupled with encouraging Q3 numbers of some bluechip companies.

Further, a firming trend at other Asian markets after better-than-expected Chinese economic data and a higher opening in European markets in anticipation of the ECB launching fresh stimulus also boosted sentiments in global markets.

Foreign investors have been supporting the ongoing rally by pumping sizeable funds into domestic markets. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 433.72 crore on Monday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

Among the sectoral index, metal rose the most by surging 3.03%, followed by bank index 1.84%, FMCG 1.69%, Oil & Gas 1.33%, realty 1.20%, auto 0.70%, capital goods 0.45%, healthcare 0.43% and IT 0.41%.

Of the 30 Sensex stocks, 22 ended with gains led by HDFC Ltd (up 5.84%), Sesa Sterlite (up 5.36%), Tata Steel (4.50%), Axis Bank (up 4.33%), Tata Motors (up 3.78%), ITC Ltd (3.57%), Hindalco (3%), RIL (2.42%), HDFC Bank (1.76%), ICICI Bank (1.70%) and SBI (1.58%).

Midcap index rose 0.44% and smallcap index gained 0.41%.