Mumbai: The Sensex closed above the 25,000 level and the Nifty index ended at a new high on Thursday powered by metal, power and oil and gas shares on hopes of a quick revival in domestic economy, amid strong expectations the European Central Bank will unveil a stimulus shortly.
Buying was strong with 11 of 12 sectoral indices posting gains between 0.17 per cent and 3.33 per cent.
Metal, oil and gas, power, FMCG, IT and capital goods led the surge. Persistent capital inflows from foreign funds into equity market and widespread buying by retail investors boosted the market sentiment, said traders.
India’s services sector expanded for the first time in nearly a year during May on rebound in new business orders.
Foreign Institutional Investors bought shares worth a net Rs 192.56 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional data.
The BSE Sensex resumed higher, but dropped to a low of 24,644.88. It later recovered sharply to settle at its new closing high of 25,019.51, a rise of 213.68 points or 0.86 per cent. It breached previous closing peak of 24,858.59 hit on June 3.
The NSE 50-share Nifty also flared up by 71.85 points, or 0.97 per cent, to end at new peak of 7,474.10 — surpassing its June 3 closing of 7,415.85.
Metal and oil and gas prices usually go up after an economic stimulus on hopes some funds will come into such assets.
Sensex-based counters like Tata Motors, Sesa Sterlite, ONGC, Infosys, HUL, RIL, ITC, Tata Steel, Hindalco, TCS, HDFC, Axis Bank, Tata Power, Wipro, Hero MotoCorp and Gail closed with sharp to marked gains.
Banking stocks had a forgettable day as shares like ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank saw profit-taking.
