Nifty rallies 35 pts to close at 8,952.50

Persistent foreign capital inflows coupled with higher Asian cues pushed up the NSE 50-share Nifty by 35 points to at 18-month closing high at 8,952.50.
Shares of Pharma, Realty, Metal and Auto sectors firmed up on good buying enquiries while IT fell on selling pressure.
Foreign portfolio investors and Foreign Institutional Investors bought shares worth Rs 854.06 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
The NSE 50-share NIfty opened slightly lower at 8,915.50 and hovered in a range of 8,960.35 and 8,896.00 before ending at 18-month closing high at 8,952.50, showing a gain of 34.55 points or 0.39 per cent. The Nifty had last closed at 8,996.25 on March 3rd, 2015.

Major gainers were Sun Pharma (3.70 pct), Bajaj Auto (3.45 pct), Tata Steel (3.35 pct), Auropharma (3.06 pct) and Maruti (2.87 pct).
However, losers were Yes Bank 5.23 pct followed by TCS 4.85 pct, Techm 2.71 pct, Gail 1.82 pct and BHEL 1.82 pct.

A total of 1,004 scrips advanced, 616 declined, while 73 remained unchanged. Total securities that hit their price bands were 101.
Turnover in cash segment fell to 23,772.11 crore from Rs 25,427.22 crore yesterday.
A total of 13,743.86 lakh shares changed hands in 89,79,029 trades. The market capitalisation of NSE stood at Rs 1,10,91,518.00 crore.