Healthy buying sentiment lifts equity indices to new highs

Key Indian equity indices, which opened on a flat note, traded at fresh highs during the mid-afternoon session on Monday with robust buying in consumer durables and automobile stocks.

According to market observers, healthy buying in index heavyweights like ONGC, Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Consultancy Services, among others, aided in the upward trajectory of the benchmark indices.

Around 1 p.m., the broader Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange traded higher by 24.05 points, or 0.23 per cent, at 10,476.55 points.

The Nifty50 scaled a new intra-day high of 10,478.10 points.

The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 33,710.15 points, traded at 33,806.42 points -- up 120.86 points or 0.36 per cent -- from its Friday's close.

The Sensex has so far touched a fresh high of 33,811.56 points intra-day.

The BSE market breadth was bullish -- 1,527 advances and 1,134 declines.

"Benchmark indices opened flat as Asian shares tumbled from recent decade highs on Monday. Oil jumped to a more than two-year peak as Saudi Arabia's crown prince cemented his power through an anti-corruption crackdown," Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, told IANS.

"Shares of jewellery companies have rallied up to 25 per cent on the BSE in early morning trade after the Titan Company reported a strong set of numbers for the quarter ended September 2017 (Q2FY18)," he added.

On Friday, the benchmark indices closed at high levels on the back of broadly positive global cues, coupled with healthy buying in banking, capital goods and auto stocks.

The Nifty50 rose by 28.70 points, or 0.28 per cent, to close at a high of 10,452.50 points, while the BSE Sensex closed at a high of 33,685.56 points -- up 112.34 points, or 0.33 per cent.

--IANS

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