Sensex, Nifty at record closing highs; Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco major gainers

Mumbai: Benchmark indices touched fresh record highs on Tuesday (December 17) on the back of buying seen in the metal, IT and auto stocks. The Sensex closed up 413.45 points or 1.01% at 41352.17, while the Nifty ended up 111 points or 0.92% at 12165. Major gainers on the Nifty were Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, Hindalco, Vedanta, and Tata Motors, while Sun Pharma, GAIL, Bajaj Auto, HUL and Titan Company were major laggards.

About 1427 shares advanced, 1052 shares declined, while 194 shares remain unchanged. Buying was witnessed in metal, IT, auto, infra, FMCG and banking stocks, while selling seen in the selected pharma names.

Sensex in the day climbed to record levels on the back of strong buying in banking stocks. The Bank Nifty surged to record high as stocks like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI, Kotak and Axis Bank traded on a firm note. 

The Sensex touched a high of 41,299.27 and at 12.59 pm was trading at 41,297.39 higher by 358.67, while the border Nifty also reached record high at 12,152.95 points, up 99 points.

Despite the rising inflation and weak growth, the markets have been marching forward owing to the strong inflow of FII and favourable interest rate by global central banks.

During early hours on Tuesday, equity benchmark indices added handsome gains on, tracking positive sentiment in the global markets with the easing of trade worries and uncertainty on Brexit. 

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 283 points to 41,222, while the Nifty 50 gained by 76 points at 12,130. All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green with Nifty IT up by 1.3 per cent, metal by 1.2 per cent and auto by 0.7 per cent.

On Monday too, the Sensex surged to lifetime highs but fell to close in the red after the wholesale inflation figures rose for the first time in six months, adding to the weak growth rate and high consumer inflation.

Foreign Portfolio Investors pumped in Rs 728.13 crore worth of scrips on Moday while its domestic counterpart sold stocks worth Rs 796.38 crore.

Meanwhile, Asian shares rose to their highest in more than a year as trade deal optimism and Wall Street`s run to all-time highs supported sentiment. The mood carried MSCI`s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan up by 0.6 per cent to its highest since July 2018. Japan`s Nikkei hit its firmest in more than a year while Hong Kong`s Hang Seng rose almost a per cent. Korea`s Kospi stood at its highest since May and Shanghai blue chips rose by 0.6 per cent.

The preliminary deal between Washington and Beijing will double US exports to China, White House Adviser Larry Kudlow said a day earlier. The United States will also reduce some tariffs on Chinese goods under the agreement. 

(With Agency Inputs)