Sensex, Nifty hit record highs

Key indices extended early gains and hit fresh intraday high in morning trade. At 10:17 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 350.24 points or 0.92% at 38,602.04. The Nifty 50 index was up 100 points or 0.87% at 11,657.10. Both Sensex and Nifty hit fresh all-time highs in morning trade. The gains were supported by favourable global cues.

After opening higher, key indices firmed up further in morning trade. The Sensex rose 365.47 points, or 0.96% at the day's high of 38,617.27 in morning trade. The index rose 164.93 points, or 0.43% at the day's low of 38,416.73 in early trade. The Nifty rose 102.90 points, or 0.89% at the day's high of 11,660 in morning trade. The index rose 38.50 points, or 0.33% at the day's low of 11,595.60 in early trade.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.71%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.66%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On BSE, 1380 shares rose and 697 shares fell. A total of 121 shares were unchanged.

Metal shares rose across the board. Jindal Steel & Power (up 2.87%), National Aluminium Company (up 2.71%), JSW Steel (up 2.21%), Steel Authority of India (up 2.05%), Hindustan Copper (up 1.50%), Hindalco Industries (up 1.48%), NMDC (up 1.45%), Tata Steel (up 1.29%), Hindustan Zinc (up 0.99%) and Vedanta (up 0.16%), edged higher.

Most FMCG shares rose. Dabur India (up 2.68%), Marico (up 1.85%), Tata Global Beverages (up 0.89%), Nestle India (up 0.88%), Godrej Consumer Products (up 0.84%), Britannia Industries (up 0.63%), Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care (up 0.47%), Jyothy Laboratories (up 0.35%), Hindustan Unilever (up 0.26%) and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (up 0.16%), edged higher. Colgate Palmolive (India) (down 0.06%) and Bajaj Corp (down 0.62%), edged lower.

Overseas, Asian shares were trading higher after US stocks jumped on Friday following comments by the US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. This also follows an announcement by China's central bank regarding the yuan's daily midpoint the same day.

In US, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite reached all-time highs on Friday as Netflix shares rose. Sentiment was also boosted by strong earnings and solid economic data being reported earlier last week.

Last Friday, Powell delivered a speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium in Wyoming, where leading central bankers met to discuss the future of monetary policy. He said "further, gradual" rate hikes were likely in the future, noting the economy is "strong" and able to withstand tighter monetary policy.

Powell's comments came hours after the People's Bank of China announced that it was tweaking its methodology for the fixing of the yuan's daily midpoint in an effort to stabilize the currency market.

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