Ease of doing business: Sensex, Nifty close at record high

New Delhi: The BSE Sensex closed at fresh record high by jumping over 350 points on Wednesday while the NSE’s Nifty ended more than 100 points to close at record high following the jump in India’s ranking in the World Bank ease of doing business survey for 2018.

India went up by 30 notches to 100th position on the World Bank ranking, released on Tuesday.

Moreover, eight core sectors growing to a six-month high of 5.2 per cent in September and positive leads from global market accelerated the buying pace that lifted key indices to new highs.

The Sensex settled at a new closing peak of 33,600.27, up 387.14 points, or 1.17 per cent. The index surpassed its previous closing record of 33,266.16, touched on October 30.

On Tuesday, the gauge had retreated from record by losing 53.03 points.

Similarly, the broader 50-issue NSE Nifty breached the 10,450-mark for the first time to hit a new intra-day peak at 10,451.65, bettering its record of 10,384.50 hit on October 30.

However, profit-taking at record levels erased gains and finally settled at 10,440.50

Better-than-estimated earnings by some more companies too bolstered trading sentiments.

The market rally was driven by strong buying in telecom, banking, realty, metal, FMCG and PSU counters. Traders said uninterrupted pumping of funds into equities by domestic institutional investors also boosted investor sentiment.

In the Sensex kitty, Bharti Airtel emerged biggest gainer by jumping over 8 per cent even as the company posted sixth straight quarter of drop on earnings as its consolidated net profit plunged 76.5 per cent for the September quarter.

(With PTI inputs)