Sensex, Nifty hit fresh all-time highs on fund inflows; ONGC leads after stock upgrade

The benchmark BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty hit their new record highs by rising 204.25 points to 27,230.95 and 58.30 points to 8,145.15 respectively in early trade today on emergence of heavy buying by funds and retail investors amid a firm Asian trend.

The 30-share index, which had lost 113.24 points in the previous two sessions, recovered by 204.25 points, or 0.75%, to new peak of 27,230.95 with all sectoral indices, led by oil and gas and capital goods gaining up to 0.91%.

The National Stock Exchange index Nifty also gained 58.30 points, or 0.72%, to trade at fresh high of 8,145.15. The BSE Sensex had recorded its earlier intra-day high of 27,225.85 and the Nifty clocked its peak of 8,141.90 on September 3 this year.

ONGC rose 2.6%, the highest gainer in early trade after Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded the stock to buy from neutral. The report says that the main reason for the optimism is that recent media reports suggest "equal subsidy sharing by ONGC-Oil India and the government. ONGC is better off under equal subsidy sharing than under the Parikh formula, which we were earlier assuming."

The other gainers are Grasim, Hindalco, Ambuja Cements and Cairn India. The big losers are DLF, NMDC, Tata Power and Maruti Suzuki.

All the sectors apart from the consumer durables index are in green this morning.

Brokers said heavy buying by funds and retail investors amid firming trend in other Asian markets mainly boosted trading sentiment here. Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei was up by 0.17%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose by 0.21% in early trade today. 

With PTI inputs