The Indian equity benchmarks surged to record highs on Friday paced by gains in information technology and metal shares. The benchmarks opened higher wherein the Sensex rose as much as 341 points to hit record high of 52,641.53 and Nifty 50 index touched an all-time high of 15,835.55. The markets have been rising to record highs on the back of hopes of faster economic revival as pace of new Covid-19 infections continue to decline, analysts said.
The Sensex ended 174 points or 0.33 per cent higher to close at all-time high of 52,474.76 and Nifty 50 index advanced 62 points to close at record high of 15,799.35.
Daily cases of the novel coronavirus in India stayed below the 100,000-mark for a fourth straight day, with the health ministry's data on Friday showing 91,702 new infections.
Seven of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty Realty index's 1 per cent decline. Nifty Media, PSU Bank and Private Bank indices also declined around 0.5 per cent.
On the other hand, Nifty Metal index was top sectoral gainer, the index jumped 2.7 per cent. Nifty IT and Pharma indices also rose over 1 per cent each.
Mid- and small-cap shares also witnessed buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.22 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.5 per cent.
Tata Steel was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 4.4 per cent to close at Rs 1,163. JSW Steel, Coal India, Dr Reddy's Labs, Hindalco, Power Grid, TCS, Reliance Industries, Infosys, Tata Motors and HCL Technologies were also among the gainers.
On the flipside, Axis Bank, Divis Labs, IndusInd Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Life, SBI Life, UltraTech Cement, Cipla, State Bank of India and ICICI Bank were among the losers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,777 shares ended higher while 1,409 closed lower on the BSE.
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