Markets fly to new high on India's World Bank leap

As India leapt 30 ranks up on the 'Ease of Doing Business', buoyed bulls lifted the benchmark indices to new highs.

The Sensex rose 387.14 points, or 1.17%, to a new closing high of 33600.27 while the Nifty jumped 105.20 points, or 1.02%, to end at 10440.50.

A World Bank report on Bank's Ease of Doing Business on Tuesday ranked India at 100 among 190 countries.

The market rally was driven by strong buying in telecom, banking, realty, metal, FMCG and PSU counters. Traders said uninterrupted pumping of funds by domestic institutional investors into equities boosted investor sentiment. Better-than-estimated earnings by more companies helped.

Bharti Airtel, rising over 8%, led the gainers' pack. State Bank of India ICICI Bank, HDFC Ltd and Axis Bank rose up to 4.58%.

In the sectoral play, telecom rallied the most by surging 3.93%, followed by realty, bank and metal.

Broader markets ruled high too, with the small-cap index rising 0.55% and mid-cap 0.35%.

Strength in the rupee also amplified the surge, experts said, adding the bull run will continue for quite some time, with Tech Mahindra earnings outperforming most expectations.

"While soft PMI numbers have not dulled the sentiment as yet, FII flows and the dollar's trajectory would be in focus with US tax reforms on the horizon," Anand James, chief market strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Asian and European markets firmed up ahead of the US Federal Reserve decision on interest rate hike.