Markets at fresh record high; Nifty breaches 8,450

The Sensex and Nifty have touched fresh record levels of 28,294 and 8,460, respectively

Markets have touched fresh record high on account of strong buying in rate sensitive sectors like banks, auto, realty and select metal shares. The Sensex and Nifty have touched fresh record levels of 28,294 and 8,460 levels, respectively.

By 9:55, the Sensex was higher by 185 points at 28,253 mark and the Nifty gained by 59 points at 8,461 levels.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net sellers in Indian equities worth Rs 477.15 crore on Thursday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

GLOBAL MARKETS

US markets ended at record high levels on fall in jobless claims, factory activity in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region growing at its fastest pace in two decades and U.S. home resales jumping to their highest in more than a year in October.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.19% to 17,719, a record close. The S&P 500 gained 0.2% to 2,052.75, its 44th record high this year. The Nasdaq Composite 0.5% to 4,701.87.

Japanese shares are under pressure on profit-booking ahead of a long weekend shrugging off the boost provided by US markets. Nikkei is trading with a loss of 0.8% on course to snap a run of four weeks of gains.

Chinese shares too remain subdued on profit-taking. Shanghai Composite index is down 0.1% while Hang Seng index is trading flat.

SECTORS & STOCKS IN ACTION

BSE Consumer Durables index and BSE Bankex have gained by nearly 1% each. However, BSE IT index has slumped by almost 1%.

The main gainers on the Sensex are Cipla, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, Sesa Sterlite, Hero Moto and Tata Steel.

Cipla has extended yesterday’s gains and has surged by nearly 4% after the pharmaceutical company through its subsidiary Cipla Europe NV, has entered into an agreement to distribute Serum Institute of India Ltd’s (SII) paediatric vaccines in Europe.

Kotak Mahindra Bank has surged by 7%. The bank on Thursday announced it was acquiring Bengalaru-headquartered ING Vysya Bank in an all-stock deal. ING shareholders will get 725 Kotak Bank shares for every 1,000 shares they hold.

Tech Mahindra has surged 1.5% after the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire US-based Lightbridge Communications Corporation (LCC) for an enterprise value of $240 million, one of its biggest foreign acquisitions to date.

FTIL founder and group chief executive officer (CEO) Jignesh Shah stepped down on Thursday from the company’s board of directors. The stock has gained by 4.5%.

Tata Steel, Hindalco and Sesa Sterlite have gained 0.3% to 0.6% each. The central government, after allowing commercial mining in the coal sector, is now planning to permit companies to sell mines of all minerals, except atomic ones, by providing transferability under the mining law. Under the law in force at present, a company cannot sell mines it holds to other companies, though leases are transferred whenever a mining company is taken over.

On the losing side, Infosys, Tata Power, HUL, TCS and Maruti Suzuki have slipped between 1-2%.

Infosys is the top Sensex loser, down nearly 2%. The company is likely to book an impact of less than $1 million (Rs 6 crore) due to the financial irregularities in the accounts of its business process outsourcing (BPO) arm, which led to the dismissal of the unit's chief financial officer, Abraham Mathews earlier this week.