Sensex flies to new rarefied zone, Nifty whizzes past 9,600

Stocks kept the record-breaking touch intact for the third day as the Sensex today closed at a fresh life high of 31,109 while the Nifty settled above 9,600 for the first time ever as ample liquidity gave buying a lift.
Since a few overseas markets were closed, there were not too many triggers, which put a lid on the stocks' advance. Amid all this, concerns over high valuations remained.
Muted earnings from some blue-chip companies, including Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra and Reliance Communications, created discomfort. But sustained buying saved the day as they brushed aside yet another missile launch by North Korea.

Opening weak, the 30-share Sensex slid below the 31,000 -mark on a string of weak quarterly earnings, but quickly bounced to yet another intra-day lifetime high of 31,214.39.
It closed up 81.07 points, or 0.26 per cent, at a new peak of 31,109.28, breaching its previous record of 31,028.21, reached on May 26.
During the day, the Sensex swung almost 345 points both ways. The index has now rallied 807.64 points in the three straight sessions.

The broader 50-share NSE Nifty settled higher by 9.80 points, or 0.10 per cent, at 9,604.90, a new peak, beating its previous record closing of 9,595.10 recorded on Friday. Intra-day, the index touched an all-time high of 9,637.75.

"Liquidity is extending its gain to consumer-oriented stocks and sectors... This positive trend can continue in the near term, given strong domestic inflows even though valuation is high due to attractive outlook for earnings growth in future," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) have been supporting the ongoing rally by pumping in sizeable capital. They purchased shares worth Rs 1,008.56 crore while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 274.14 crore on Friday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
On the sectoral index chart, FMCG jumped the most by surging 1.55 per cent, followed by auto and consumer durables.

In the Sensex space, HDFC Ltd took the first rank by rising 3.29 per cent, followed by Hindustan Unilever 3.07 per cent. Other prominent gainers were PowerGrid, Cipla, ITC, Hero MotoCorp and Reliance Industries, surging by up to 2.76 per cent.
In contrast, healthcare stocks weighed. Sun Pharma plunged 11.56 per cent to a multi-year low after the company reported a decline in consolidated net profit.
Shares of software services provider Tech Mahindra slumped 11.66 per cent after a dismal earnings show.
Reliance Communications crashed nearly 20.54 per cent to a record low after the company reported a quarterly loss.

In broader markets too, investors were busy taking money off the table, pulling down the small-cap index by 1.53 per cent and mid-cap by 1.03 per cent.
Chinese markets remained shut today.
European stocks were a tad lower in the early part. London's FTSE was closed for a public holiday.