Sensex, Nifty touch new highs; bank stocks shine (Roundup)

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Monday touched a record high of 27,354.99 points surpassing its previous high of 27,225.85 points of Sep 3.

Good buying was observed in banking, oil and gas, capital goods, auto, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), healthcare, IT and metal sectors, while marginal selling pressure was seen in consumer durables sector.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 27,145.12 points, closed trade at 27,319.85 points, up 293.15 points or 1.08 percent from the previous day's close at 27,026.70 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 27,354.99 points and a low of 27,144.56 points in the intra-day trade.

"Markets continued to move upwards and ended at a new high. Optimism on growth continued to push up markets. The sentiment remained positive despite the fact that European markets opened in the red during the day," said Dipen Shah, head - private client group research, Kotak Securities.

"Several mid-caps found buyers and outperformed the broader indices. Easing of geo-political tensions in Russia, Ukraine led to brent crude price going below the $100 per barrel mark and that also helped sentiments," Shah added.

The S&P BSE bankex surged by 252.29 points, oil and gas index got augmented by 205.04 points, capital goods index gained by 198.88 points, auto index inched up by 138.39 points, FMCG index increased by 102.94 points, healthcare index moved up by 134.84 points, IT index went up by 126.53 points and metal index was up by 156.57 points.

However, consumer durables index slipped by 20.99 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also touched a record high of 8,180.20 points before closing trade at a new closing high of 8,173.90 points. Monday's close was 87.05 points or 1.08 percent up from the previous day's closing and a new record against the previous high of 8,141.90 points of Sep 3.

The major Sensex gainers were: Hindalco Inds, up 3.49 percent at Rs.173.60; ONGC, up 2.78 percent at Rs.454.80; State Bank of India (SBI), up 1.94 percent at Rs.2,564.20; HDFC Bank, up 1.80 percent at Rs.864; and Wipro, up 1.66 percent at Rs.591.60.

The losers were: NTPC, down 1.61 percent at Rs.140.45; Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), 0.75 percent at Rs.1,397.60; Tata Power, down 0.34 percent at Rs.87.95; and HDFC, down 0.18 percent at Rs.1,053.80.

In Asian markets, Nikkei closed 0.23 percent up, while Hong Kong's Hang Sang closed 0.20 percent lower. However, China's Shanghai Composite index higher by 0.85 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was down 0.92 percent, Germany's DAX Index was 0.18 percent lower, and France's CAC 40 was fell by 0.44 percent.