Mumbai, Dec 19 () Equity benchmarks advanced to fresh lifetime highs for the third session on the trot on Thursday, spurred by buying in energy, IT and auto counters amid persistent foreign fund inflows.
After rallying to its lifetime intra-day high of 41,719.29, the 30-share BSE Sensex settled 115.35 points, or 0.28 per cent, higher at its fresh closing record of 41,673.92.
Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty rose 38.05 points, or 0.31 per cent, to its new peak of 12,259.70. It hit an intra-day high of 12,268.35.
Yes Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying 6.74 per cent, followed by TCS, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, M&M and RIL.
On the other hand, Vedanta, HDFC, Sun Pharma and IndusInd Bank shed up to 2.26 per cent.
According to traders, after opening on a cautious note on news of US President Donald Trump's impeachment by the House of Representatives, domestic equities resumed their record-setting streak amid unabated foreign fund inflows.
"Despite premium valuation market is touching higher highs led by foreign inflows due to convictions of consistency in performance. Union budget is likely to be crucial for the market on account of new policies and to attract investments. Investors are factoring a possible slippage in fiscal deficit due to slow pace in tax collection.
"Broad market performance is yet to match with the main indices, the main dichotomy being lag in credit growth and structural change in industries. The progress in global sentiment will help risk taking ability of investors which will extend the liquidity to broad indices," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Sectorally, BSE telecom, energy, auto, teck, IT, oil and gas, consumer durables and FMCG indices ended up to 1.98 per cent higher.
However, finance, capital goods, realty, utilities and bankex settled up to 0.31 per cent lower.
Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices gained up to 0.17 per cent.
On a net basis, foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 1,836.81 crore on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 1,267.57 crore on Wednesday, data available with stock exchanges showed.
Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo ended on a mixed note, while those in Europe saw weak trading sentiment.
On the currency front, the rupee depreciated 17 paise against the US dollar to 71.15 (intra-day).
Brent futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.12 per cent to USD 66.25 per barrel. ANS ABM ABM
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