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| Edited By: |Source: PTI |Updated: Mar 19, 2018, 04:53 AM IST
The benchmark Sensex created history on Monday by closing above the 26,000 mark for the first time on hopes of growth-oriented policy announcements in the maiden Budget of Narendra Modi government.
Besides, a rally in technology stocks, led by Infosys, which will kick-start the earnings season for the April-June quarter later this week, also buoyed the sentiments, traders said. The 30-share BSE index after commencing the session above the historic 26,000 mark, climbed to touch a new intra-day record high high of 26,123.55. It finally settled 138.02 points, or 0.53% higher, at a new closing peak of 26,100.08.
The gauge has now surpassed its previous closing high of 25,962.06 on Friday. The 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 35.55 points, or 0.46%, to close at a new peak of 7,787.15, breaching previous record closing high of 7,751.60 on Friday. During the session, it touched a lieftime high of 7,792.00, surpassing previous of 7,758.00 reached on Friday.
An HSBC survey that said manufacturing and services sectors in India expanded at a faster pace than China during June, too had a positive impact on sentiments, traders added.
"Pre-budget rally has lifted the indices to new highs", said Deepak Pahwa, a Delhi-based stock broker. Investors have been accumulating blue-chip stocks on hopes that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on July 10 in the Budget would announce industry-friendly measures to revive the country's economy that is growing at near the slowest pace in a decade. Last week, Sensex jumped 862.14 points.
Meanwhile, Foreign Portfolio Investors bought shares worth a net Rs 943.19 crore last Friday. Among sectoral indices, the BSE IT index gained the most and surged 2.63% as Infosys, TCS, Wipro gained in 1.86-3.23% range amid weakening of the rupee.
The BSE Teck index emerged the second best performer by rising 2.16%, followed by Power index (1.12%) and Healthcare (0.80%). However, the BSE Oil and gas index ended 0.91% lower due to profit-taking in RIL, ONGC and GAIL. Banking index was down by 1.21% and Realty index by 0.14%
