Markets give thumbs up to 3 years of Modi govt; Sensex breaches 31,000-mark, Nifty on new peak

Mumbai: Stocks defied gravity for the second straight session Friday, propelling the Sensex past the 31,000- mark for the first time ever on the third anniversary of the Modi government.

The broader Nifty too breached the 9,600-level, also in a first, before settling at a record high of 9,595.10.

Sustained buying, both by domestic and foreign investors, propped up the market at elevated levels amid optimism for more reforms by the government.

The BSE Sensex has risen 25.53 percent, while the NSE Nifty has gained 30.38 percent since the BJP-led NDA government came to power in May 2014.

Creation of new positions by participants following the beginning of the June futures and options (F&O) series added to the momentum, brokers said.

Extending the previous session's record-setting spree, the BSE Sensex crossed the landmark 31,000-level to hit a lifetime high of 31,074.07.

After paring some gains, the 30-share index settled at 31,028.21, up 278.18 points, or 0.90 percent. It surpassed the earlier record closing of 30,750.03 hit yesterday.

It was the third straight week of gains for the key indices. The Sensex rose by 563.29 points, or 1.84 percent, while the Nifty finished the week 167.20 points, or 1.77 percent higher.

"Market touched another milestone supported by continued buying interest on index heavyweights post expiry. Expectation on good monsoon and a slow pace in interest rate hike by US Fed continue to weigh on the sentiment.

"Mid and small caps outperformed as recent correction scaled down the valuation gap with large caps, which gave an entry point for those who missed the opportunity," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Foreign institutional investors bought shares worth a net Rs 589.11 crore on Thursday, which added to the upbeat sentiment.

Tata Steel soared 5.46 percent to emerge as the biggest Sensex gainer, followed by ITC Ltd at 2.99 percent on encouraging fourth quarterly earnings.

Other big gainers were Power Grid (2.57 percent), Reliance Industries (2.53 percent), Adani Ports (1.82 percent), Asian Paints (1.76 percent), Infosys (1.46 percent), Maruti Suzuki (1.30 percent), ICICI Bank (1.28 percent), Bharti Airtel (1.12 percent), Tata Motors (1.11 percent), M&M (1.11 percent), L&T (1.05 percent), Axis Bank (1 percent), ONGC (0.95 percent) and Coal India (0.90 percent).

However, pharma counters continued their slide on persistent selling pressure largely on muted earnings. Sun Pharma fell 3.93 percent, Cipla lost 2.48 percent, Lupin shed 2.29 percent and Dr Reddy's 0.64 percent.

Sectorwise, BSE metal index gained the most by rising 3.40 percent, followed by oil&gas 2.08 percent, FMCG 1.77 percent, power 1.61 percent, consumer durables 1.56 percent, capital goods 1.47 percent, auto 1.34 percent, PSU 1.13 percent and banking 0.78 percent.

Buying activity in the broader markets also gathered momentum, with the mid-cap index surging 2.06 percent and small-cap index gaining 1.60 percent.

Globally, in rest of Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.03 percent, while Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.07 percent. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.64 percent.

European markets were in the red in their early deals. Paris CAC 30 fell 0.70 percent and Frankfurt's DAX lost 0.41 percent. London's FTSE, however, was marginally up by 0.10 percent.