Markets Continue Record Run; Post Sixth Weekly Gains

Mumbai: Benchmarks ended at record highs for the second straight session today as investors remained hopeful of upbeat corporate earnings despite lacklustre numbers from TCS.

The BSE Sensex gained 88.90 points to end at 34,592.39, while the broader NSE Nifty finished at 10,681.25, up 30.05 points.

The indices suffered a bout of volatility mid-session following an unprecedented press conference by four senior judges of the Supreme Court where they mounted a virtual revolt against the chief justice and listed a litany of problems afflicting the country's highest court.

However, buying momentum resumed soon, which propelled the markets to record levels.

This was the sixth weekly gain in a row for the benchmarks. During the week, the Sensex gained 438.54 points, or 1.28 percent, while the Nifty rose 122.40 points, or 1.15 percent.

"The market reversed from intraday low amid concerns over administration of the apex court which had resulted in a sentimental sell off. Positive trade in global market and expectation of revival in domestic earnings from H1FY18 is upholding the healthy sentiment. On the other hand, concern over December CPI inflation and increase in oil prices are likely to add volatility in the near term," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

After opening on a strong footing, the Sensex advanced to hit a fresh lifetime high of 34,638.42 on the back of continued buying by domestic funds and retail investors but later declined to 34,342.16.

It finally settled 88.90 points, or 0.26 percent higher at 34,592.39, breaking its previous record closing of 34,503.49 hit in yesterday's trade. The broader Nifty, after scaling an all-time high (intra-day) of 10,690.40 points, finished at 10,681.25, up 30.05 points, or 0.28 percent.

It surpassed its previous record closing of 10,651.20 hit yesterday.

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities to the tune of Rs 770.02 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 623.63 crore on net basis yesterday, provisional data showed.

TCS slipped 0.56 percent after the IT major yesterday reported a 3.6 percent drop in net profit for the December quarter at Rs 6,531 crore.

However, Infosys, which announced its results after market hours today, posted a 38.3 percent growth in consolidated net profit to Rs 5,129 crore for the October- December quarter of 2017-18.

In the Sensex kitty, private lender ICICI Bank emerged as the best performer with a rise of 2.63 percent, followed by Maruti Suzuki at 1.27 percent.

Other prominent gainers included ONGC, RIL, Dr Reddy's, HDFC Ltd, L&T, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors and M&M, rising by up to 1.26 percent.

Sector-wise, the upmove was driven by oil and gas (up 0.69 percent), banking (0.50 percent), capital goods (0.48 percent), metal (0.45 percent), auto (0.28 percent), teck (0.14 percent), infrastructure (0.14 percent) and IT (0.03 percent).

The BSE small-cap index inched up 0.05 percent as investors continued their buying activity but the mid-cap index ended 0.17 percent lower.

Trading was brisk across global markets. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.94 percent while Shanghai Composite gained 0.10 percent. However, Japan's Nikkei shed 0.24 percent. European markets were higher in early trade, with Frankfurt's DAX rising 0.16 percent and Paris CAC 40 up 0.3 percent. London's FTSE too rose 0.04 percent.