Record Close For Sensex, Knocking at 60K, Nifty Tops 17,800 For 1st Time

The Indian equity benchmarks sky rocketed to record highs on Thursday on the back of strong global cues after the US Fed signaled that tapering could start earlier than market expectations but kept interest near record lows. The Sensex rose as much as 1,030 points to hit record high of 59,957.25, within striking distance away from 60,000 mark and Nifty 50 index closed above its important psychological level of 17,800 for the first time led by gains in banking, financial services, and oil & gas shares.

The Sensex surged 958 points to close at record high of 59,885.36 and Nifty 50 index climbed 176 points to settle at an all-time high of 17,823.

The Fed said last night it will likely begin tapering its monthly bond buying as early as November, and indicated it could raise interest rates more quickly than expected.

Reliance Industries, HDFC, HDFC Bank. Infosys, ICICI Bank and Larsen & Toubro were among the top movers in the Sensex. They collectively contributed over 750 points towards the Sensex.

"In the short term, Nifty has formed a strong bullish breakout candle and has consistently maintained higher bottom series formation, which supports further uptrend from current levels. For day traders, 17,800-17,750-17,720 would be key support levels. On the other hand, 17,900-17,950-17,990 could act as a major resistance level in the short run. Contra traders can take a long bet between 17,750-17,720 with a strict support stop loss at 16,910," said Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research at Kotak Securities.

Buying was visible across the sectors as all the 15 sector gauges, barring the index of media shares, ended higher led by Nifty Realty index's nearly 9 per cent surge. Real estate shares rallied for second straight session on Thursday as bullish sentiment for real estate companies gained traction after Godrej Properties said that it achieved record sales at its Godrej Woods project located in Noida.

Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Metal, IT, PSU Bank, Private Bank, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas indices also surged between 1.5-2.5 per cent.

Broader markets also witnessed strong buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index advanced 1.5 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index jumped 0.8 per cent.

Bajaj Finserv was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 4.63 per cent to close at record high of Rs 18,430. Hindalco, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Motors, Coal India, HDFC, Axis Bank, ONGC, IndusInd Bank, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries also rose between 2.4-4.5 per cent.

On the flipside, HDFC Life, Dr Reddy's Labs, JSW Steel, Tata Consumer Products, ITC, Nestle India and Britannia Industries were among the notable losers.

The overall market breadth was extremely positive as 1,974 shares ended higher while 1,266 closed lower on the BSE.