Sensex surpasses 31,000 mark, shoots by 255.17 points

Achieving yet another milestone in just a few hours, the Sensex on Friday saw a significant surge, reaching a fresh all time high of 31,005.20, recording a rise by 255.17 points, with Nifty inching closer to the 9,600-mark.

Analysts attributed this surge to an increase in sustained foreign capital inflows, apart from an early monsoon forecast.

Additionally, a hike in interest rates by the U.S.?Federal Reserve coupled with the underlying threat posed due to the OPEC's?decision to extend the oil output cut to March 2018 facilitated the surge.

The Indian indices when compared to Thursday's numbers saw a 0.7 percent increase.

Tata Steel continues to be on top of the chart, registering a five percent increase in stocks, followed by Reliance Industries (2.5 percent), Asian Paints (two percent) and Infosys Ltd. (1.5 percent).

Earlier in the day, opening trade at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) witnessed a surge in its trade with the Sensex and Nifty recorded at 30,862.63 and 9,534.75 respectively.

Beating the analysts' expectations, the market-wide rollover of futures and options (F&O) contracts stood at 76 per cent, which were higher than the average of 75 per cent seen during the comparable period of last three series.

However, the Rollover of the Nifty futures stood at 74 per cent, which were higher compared with the average rollover of 69 per cent seen in last three series.

Meanwhile, the Indian Rupee opened at 64.56 against the US Dollar after closing at 64.62 yesterday. The dollar index, which tracks the US dollar against a basket of six major rivals, was down 0.1 percent following Wednesday's Fed minutes which reduced expectations of the central bank hiking interest rates soon.