Sensex Soars Over 400 Points, Nifty Climbs Above 11,670

Domestic stock markets opened Monday's session on a positive note, amid positive global cues and smart gains in banking, metal and FMCG stocks. The S&P BSE Sensex rallied 259.42 points to hit all-time high of 38,511.22 in the opening trade. Nifty scaled fresh peak of 11,633.30, up 76.20 points. At 12:12 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex traded at 38,655.36, up 403.56 points or 1.06 per cent. The broader Nifty50 traded at 11,674.50, with a gain of 117.40 points or 1.02 per cent. Asian shares rose early on Monday, taking support from Wall Street's gains on Friday after US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said a gradual approach to raising rates was best to protect the US economy and job growth. 

On 30-share Sensex pack, all sectoral indices, led by metal, banking, consumer durables and PSU stocks were trading in the positive zone with gains of up to 1.52 per cent. Major gainers in the Sensex pack in the early session were YES Bank (+1.88%), SBIN (+1.50%), Tata Steel (+1.30%), ICICI Bank (+1.30%), Vedanta (+1.29%) and Kotak Bank (+1.13%). ITC, Larsen & Tourbo and SBI were among main contributors to the gains in Sensex.

Grasim (+2.74%), Power Grid (+2.41%), YES Bank (+2.15%), SBIN (+1.96%) and Tech Mahindra (+1.84%) led the pack of Nifty gainers.

Meanwhile, Jet Airways is all set to declare their June quarter results during the day. On August 9, Jet Airways' board of directors had deferred Q1 earnings announcement. 

In commodities markets, US crude dipped 0.23 per cent at $68.56 a barrel, and brent crude fell to $75.68 per barrel after oil prices rose last week, ending a streak of weekly declines on tightening supply, driven by the prospect of lower oil supply from Iran.

On the other hand, top laggards in the Nifty pack in the morning session today were Infratel (-0.72%), Dr Reddy's (-0.37%), Cipla (-0.12%) and ZEEL (-0.07%).

Last week, both the key Indian equity indices -- S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 -- rose for the fifth consecutive week and scaled new highs during the August 20-24 period despite global trade war tensions. (With agencies inputs)