Bourse continues record journery; Nifty climbs historic high

The record run continued for the third straight day as investors lapped up signs of improving momentum amid expectations of greater economic and fiscal reform measures to lift the growth in Asia's third largest economy.
Hopes are building up ahead of the Union Budget supported by strong buying by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) on the back of favourable policy environment sending markets to fresh highs.
The broader 50-share index jumped by 31.90 points, or 0.37 per cent, to end at a fresh closing high of 8,761.40 after climbing a historic peak of 8,774.15. It touched a low of 8,727.00 in intra-day trade.

Despite a strong start to trade, key indices succumbed to fresh bout of profit-taking in late afternoon trade and slipped briefly into red before regaining momentum. The broader markets ended on a flat note amid consolidation.
Elsewhere, most Asian and emerging markets ended higher largely bolstered by optimisim over European Central Bank's aggressive quantitative easing plans at today's much awaited policy meet.
Sectorally, healthcare indices witnessed a smart 1.67 per cent surge led by key frontline heavyweights alongwith Auto, Metal, Financials, Realty, Infra and Technology, while, FMCG remained under selling pressure for the second day and also Energy.

Major index movers included Tata Motors, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma, ONGC, ZEE, ICICI Bank, Asian Paint, Ultracemco, IDFC, L&T, Cipla, Lupin, Wipro, Tata Steel, Power Grid Corp, Coal India, Dr Redddys, DLF, HDFC Bank, M&M, HUL, Sesa Sterlite, Ambuja Cement and Grasim.

On the losers side, Energy major Reliance Industries topped the sellers list, down 2.54 per cent followed by HDFC, ITC, NTPC, HCL-Tech, TechM, SBI, Maruti, Heromotoco, PNB, Bank of Baroda, Gail and NMDC.
Turnover in the cash segment fell to Rs 19,254.47 crore compared to Rs 20,412.84 crore yesterday. A total of 10,100.99 lakh shares changed hands in 80,35,528 trades and the market capitalisation at NSE stood at Rs 100,63,957 crore.