Sensex, Nifty scale new peaks on positive IIP data, earnings; realty, banking and power stocks trade in green

Mumbai: The benchmark Sensex on Monday zoomed over 209 points to scale new peak of 34,801.74 points on the back of positive macro-economic data and encouraging corporate earnings amid gains in other Asian markets. The broader NSE Nifty also soared to a new high of 10,733.40 by gaining 52.15 points or 0.48 percent. It broke its previous intra-day record of 10,690.40 hit on January 12. The 30-share Sensex gained 209.35 points, or 0.60 percent, to touch an all-time high of 34,801.74, surpassing previous record of 34,638.42 (intra-day) reached on 12 January. Reflecting the bullish mood, all the sectoral indices, led by realty, banking and power were trading in the positive zone with gains up to 1.01 percent. Brokers said buying activity picked up momentum on positive economic data as industrial production growth in November zoomed to a 17-month high of 8.4 percent on the back of robust performance of manufacturing and capital goods sectors. Shares of Infosys, India’s second largest IT exporter, was trading higher by 0.33 percent at Rs 1,082, reacting to Q3 earnings. The IT major on Friday reported a 38.3 percent growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 5,129 crore for the October-December quarter and maintained its FY 2017-18 sales growth outlook at 5.5-6.5 percent in constant currency terms. Other prominent gainers that lifted the key indices to new highs include ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, HDFC Ltd, SBI, Power Grid, Reliance Industries, Wipro, NTPC, M&M, TCS, ITC Ltd, Coal India and Tata Motors, gaining up to 3.42 percent. Among other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.23 percent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.59 percent in early trade. China’s Shanghai Composite index, however, was down 0.05 percent. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at new high by surging 0.89 percent in Friday’s trade.