Sensex, Nifty open at record highs; RIL, Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank major gainers

Indian equity indices on Monday (January 20) witnessed a positive start with the Sensex opening 121.77 points high or 0.29% at 42067.14, and the Nifty also up 23.40 points or 0.19% at 12375.80. Major gainers on the Indices were RIL, Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank, SBI, while TCS, JSPL and L&T Finance Holdings, and IOC were major losers.

The Indian rupee, however, opened lower, valued at 71.10 per dollar, against Friday's 71.08 close.

Earlier on Friday, the Sensex and Nifty closed with minor gains after the Supre Cort dismissed the review petitions of telcos on its Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) verdict. The Sensex had closed 12.81 points higher at 41,945.37 after hitting an all-time high of 42,063.93, while the Nifty settled 3.15 points lower at 12,352.35. 

Meanwhile, Asian shares neared a 20-month top today as Wall Street extended its run of record peaks on solid US economic data and lashes of liquidity from the Federal Reserve. 

Oil prices jumped as oilfields in southwest Libya began shutting down after forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar closed a pipeline, potentially reducing national output to a fraction of its normal level.

Early turnover in Asian shares was light with US stock and bond markets closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan firmed 0.1%, after notching its highest close since June 2018. Japan`s Nikkei added 0.2% to be near its highest in 15 months. Chinese shares opened firm with the blue-chip CSI300 index up 0.2%.

Australia`s main index scored another all-time peak and South Korea was near its best level since October 2018. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 edged up 0.1%.

The string of mostly solid US data has underpinned the dollar, particularly against the safe-harbour yen. The dollar stood at 110.19 yen on Monday, having hit an eight-month peak of 110.28 last week.

The euro was stuck at $1.1095, while sterling idled at $1.3000 after poor British economic news fanned speculation about a cut in interest rates.

Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was flat at 97.616, moving away from the recent trough of 96.355.

(With Agency Inputs)