Equities clock new highs; Sensex tops 31,800, Nifty above 9.800 as investors eye positive economic data

Local equity markets extended gains in early Tuesday trade and the benchmark Sensex scaled past 31,800-mark to hit a new all-time high of 31,842.37, up 127 points, amid strong buying in frontline technology stocks and other blue chip counters. Overnight gains in the key US market and subsequent upsurge in other major Asian indices helped the sentiment stay positive in domestic equities after key indices put up a spectacular show a day before amid frenzied buying support. There are expectations that key macro data such as inflation and industrial production – lined up for tomorrow – will be encouraging. [caption id=“attachment_2414292” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] Rising for the second straight day, the 30-share index is now up 93 points, or 0.3 percent at 31,808.31. The gauge had gained 355.01 points in the previous session to close at a record high at 31,715.64. It had also touched an intra-day lifetime high of 31,768.39. Sectoral indices led by IT, technology, healthcare, auto, oil and gas were trading in the positive zone, with gains of up to 0.97 per cent. The 50-share NSE Nifty gained 32.30 points, or 0.3 percent, to trade at its lifetime high of 9,803.35. Earlier, the index had also hit a fresh record high of 9,814.60. Yesterday, the exchange had to halt trading activity in both cash and derivatives segment for better part of the session due to technical glitches. Capital market regulator Sebi has asked for a detailed report from NSE on the reasons relating to the snag and the action plan to be taken in future to avoid such glitches. Stocks of sugar companies were lapped up after the government yesterday raised import duty to 50 percent, up from 40 percent, to restrict cheap inward shipments and support domestic prices. Big gainers in the sugar space included Shree Renuka Sugars, Dhampur Sugar, Bajaj Hindusthan, Balrampur Chini, rising by up to 3.38 percent. Traders said that apart from a fresh spell of buying by foreign funds, continuous buying by domestic institutional investors ramped up the momentum, lifting indices to new highs. A firm trend at other Asian exchanges gave more lift. Among the 30-share Sensex stocks, Infosys, Tata Motors, SBI, M&M, TCS, Hindustan Unilever were the top performers. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.08 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.27 percent today. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.03 percent lower yesterday. With PTI inputs