Sensex, Nifty touch record high (Roundup)

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets hit a record high of 26,900.30 points Monday, surpassing its previous peak of 26,674.38 points scaled Aug 28. The index hit the record high before closing at 26,867.55 points.

Also, the wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) crossed the 8,000-mark for the first time and hit a record high of 8,035 before closing at 8,027.70 points -- 73.35 points or 0.92 percent up from its previous close.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 26,733.18 points, closed the day's trade at 26,867.55 points, up 229.44 points or 0.86 percent from the previous day's close at 26,638.11 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 26,900.30 points and a low of 26,732.39 points in the intra-day trade.

"The market opened up with a huge gap on the back of better annual GDP numbers. Nifty closed above an important psychological resistance level of 8,000, which is something really extraordinary for the Indian markets... since the result of exit polls of the election, Nifty has risen by 1,000 points," said Shrikant Chouhan, head-technical research, Kotak Securities.

"Outcome on the coal block allocation was also not too harsh as it was expected and that has also helped the market to close at the day's highest around 8,034. Auto, Metal, Power, Infra and banks did well."

All the sectors were trading in green and the rally was led by capital goods, consumer durables, banking, metal and auto.

The S&P BSE capital goods index surged by 409.71 points, metal index was higher by 341.97, bank index went up by 322.80, automobile index moved up by 228.39 points, oil and gas index got augmented by 179.86 and consumer durables index rose by 149.93 points.

However, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) index was down 49.43 points

Investor sentiment was bullish after the Indian economy beat expectations and showed sign of revival, by expanding 5.7 percent during the first quarter of the current financial year.

This was the highest growth yet in nine quarters, official data compiled by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed Aug 29.

The major Sensex gainers were: Hero MotoCorp, up 5.79 percent at Rs.2,759.25; Maruti Suzuki, up 4.71 percent at Rs.2,915.50; Tata Power, up 3.62 percent at Rs.90.05; Hindalco Inds, up 3.59 percent at Rs.176.20; and Gail, up 3.36 percent at Rs.458.70.

The losers were: Sun Pharma, down 1.46 percent at Rs.842.10; ITC, down 1.37 percent at Rs.350.30; HDFC, down 1.19 percent at Rs.1,061.10; BHEL, down 0.89 percent at Rs.238.60; and Tata Motors, down 0.87 percent at Rs.519.85.

Among Asian markets, the Nikkei closed 0.34 percent up, Hong Kong's Hang Sang was marginally higher by 0.04 percent and China's Shanghai Composite index rose 0.83 percent.

In Europe, however, London's FTSE 100 was down 0.156 percent, Germany's DAX Index was 0.01 percent lower and France's CAC 40 was down by 0.21 percent.