Sensex, Nifty touch new highs

Positive European cues ahead of a possible European Central Bank (ECB) stimulus led the two benchmark indices of the Indian equities to touch new highs in the intra-day trade session Wednesday.

The barometer index of the Indian equities market touched a new high of 28,958.10 in the intra-day trade, crossing its previous record high of 28,829.29 points reached Tuesday.

The markets rallied 522.66 points or 1.85 percent and closed at 28,784.67 points in Tuesday's trade. The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) had closed at 28,262.01 points on Monday.

Healthy buying was observed in consumer durables, capital goods, information technology (IT), banking and technology, entertainment and media (TECK) sectors, while fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), oil and gas and reality scrip came under selling pressure.

The S&P BSE Sensexm, which opened at 28,843.09 points, closed trading at 28,888.86 points, up 104.19 points or 0.36 percent from the previous day's close at 28,784.67 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 28,958.10 points and a low of 28,792.57 points in the intra-day trade.

The S&P consumer durables index surged by 144.36 points, capital goods index was up 144.05 points, IT index gained 106.29 points, banking index moved up by 87.73 points and TECK index was higher by 70.86 points.

However, the FMCG index was down 58.21 points, oil and gas index was lower by 9.55 points, and reality index slipped 3.64 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too reached a new record high of 8,741.85 points in the intra-day trade, crossing its previous high of 8,707.90 points reached Tuesday.

It ended the day's trade up 33.90 points or 0.39 percent at 8,729.50 points.