Sensex Surges Over 300 Points, Hits Fresh Record High Led By Reliance Industries

The Sensex surged to an all-time high level while the Nifty 50 index reclaimed its psychologically important level of 12,000. The surge in the markets came on the back of gains in Reliance Industries. The index bellwether rose as much as 4.05 per cent to a fresh record high of Rs 1,571 after its telecom wing said it will also raise tariffs of telecom offerings a day after Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea announced plans of raising tariffs from December. Tata Consultancy Services, Larsen & Toubro, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, ONGC and ICICI Bank also contributed to the gain in the benchmark indices. The Sensex rose as much as 346 points to hit a fresh record high of 40,816 and Nifty 50 index hit an intraday high of 12,039.

As of 12:20 pm, the Sensex traded 296 points or 0.78 per cent higher at 40,785 and the NSE Nifty 50 index was up 91 points or 0.75 per cent at 12,031.

"We think new highs just a matter of days. Now, we expect broader markets to outperform," Sanjiv Bhasin, director, IIFL Securities said.

"Markets usually run ahead of macros and price future growth. There are three positive indicators for growth - reduction in corporate tax rate, proposed divestment of large public sector units, and a possible resolution of the US china trade impasse. Therefore we see growth coming back in 2020," Mr Bhasin added.

Fourteen of 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE were trading higher led by the S&P BSE Energy index's nearly 2.6 per cent gain.

Oil & Gas, Telecom, Industrials, Healthcare, Auto, Bankex and Capital Goods indices also rose between 0.5 and 1.4 per cent each.

On the flipside, S&P BSE Power index was top loser, down 0.4 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares under-performed their larger peers as the S&P BSE MidCap index rose 0.4 per cent while the S&P BSE SmallCap index was up 0.3 per cent.

Reliance Industries was top gainer in the Nifty 50 basket of shares. With today's surge, Reliance Industries' market capitalization has inched closer to the Rs 10 lakh crore mark.

IndusInd Bank, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs, Larsen & Toubro, Coal India, Bharat Petroleum and Zee Entertainment were also among the other major gainers.

On the flipside, Britannia Industries, Bharti Infratel, ITC, NTPC, Eicher Motors, Axis Bank and Nestle India were among the losers.

The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,171 shares were trading higher while 1,052 were trading lower on the BSE.