Nifty hits record high on foreign buying, higher Asian stocks

By Abhishek Vishnoi and Indulal PM

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Nifty rose to a record high on Wednesday, gaining for a seventh straight session, led by technology stocks on continued buying by foreign-investors on a positive earnings outlook, while firm Asian markets also helped sentiment.

The broader Nifty has risen 27.90 percent in U.S. dollar terms this year, the second best performer in Asia, helped by strong foreign flows on expectations the government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi would usher in reforms and effect a rebound in Asia's third largest economy.

Overseas investors bought Indian shares worth 4.12 billion rupees ($68.6 million) on Tuesday, marking inflows of $620.86 million over five consecutive days of buying, exchange and regulatory data showed.

Investors say further gains would depend on the execution of reforms by the new government, progress of the monsoon and the Reserve Bank of India's next policy review on Aug. 5.

"The markets will likely continue to focus on issues like monsoons, global economy and quarterly results in the short term. Off-budget action on budget initiatives will sustain the confidence of the markets over the medium term," said Dipen Shah, head of private client group research at Kotak Securities.

Shah expects the RBI to keep rates steady until inflationary pressures ease significantly.

Gains also tracked higher Asian stocks on Wednesday as risk aversion triggered by recent geopolitical tensions continued to ebb.

The Nifty closed 0.36 percent higher at 7,795.75 after earlier marking an all-time high of 7,809.20 points, surpassing the previous record of 7,808.85, touched on July 8.

The benchmark BSE Sensex closed 0.47 percent higher at 26,147.33, not far from a high of 26,190.44, also hit on July 8.

Also, both the indexes marked their record closing highs.

Technology stocks led the gains with NSE's IT index gaining 2.2 percent on value-buying. Infosys Ltd rose 3.6 percent while Tata Consultancy Services ended 2.1 percent higher.

Among other major blue-chips, ICICI Bank shares rose 1.5 percent, while Mahindra and Mahindra gained 1.3 percent.

Hindalco Industries rose 2.9 percent, gaining for the third straight session after a spike in aluminium prices.

Bank of Baroda gained 2.6 percent after the RBI bank removed the stock from its caution list, making it eligible to be bought by foreign investors in the primary and secondary markets.

Jet Airways Ltd gained 3.7 percent after its chairman said the company will look at selling planes and restructuring debts as it tries to find ways to end the losses that have plagued it for years.

ING Vysya Bank fell 3.4 percent after April-June net profit declined 18 percent from year earlier.

(Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi and Indulal PM; Editing by Prateek Chatterjee and Anupama Dwivedi)