PSBs, IT stocks lift Nifty to record closing of 15,338; Sensex up 98 pts

Stock market updates: Fag-end buying in the public sector banks, IT, and metal counters ahead of the expiry of May derivatives contracts propelled the benchmark Nifty50 index to record closing high on Thursday. From an intra-day low of 15,272, the index leaped 66 points to settle at 15,338. Minutes before closing, the index hit a high of 15,384.5 levels.

The BSE barometer of 30-shares, meanwhile, ended 98 points, or 0.19 per cent, higher at 51,115 levels as losses in HDFC, Bajaj Finance, HUL, and Bharti Airtel were offset by gains in Kotak Bank, Reliance Industries, TCS, Axis Bank, and State Bank of India. The index hit an intra-day high of 51,283.

Overall, Shree Cement, SBI, Bajaj Auto, Kotak Bank, Tech Mahindra, Ultratech Cement, Axis Bank, and Tata Steel were the top large-cap gainers, up between 2 per cent and 4 per cent, while HDFC, Bajaj Finance, ONGC, Bharti Airtel, and Indian Oil Corporation were the top laggards, down up to 2.7 per cent.

The rally in the broader market space continued unabated. The S&P BSE MidCap index added 0.54 per cent while the SmallCap counter gained 0.34 per cent.

Sectorally, the Nifty PSU Bank remained the top performing index on the NSE today, up around 3 per cent. This was followed by the Nifty IT index which grew 1.2 per cent. Earlier in the day, Wipro, Birlasoft, Coforge, Firstsource Solutions, Mindtree, Persistent Systems and Sonata Software hit their respective record highs in the intra-day trade while Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Technologies and Larsen & Tourbo Infotech advanced in the range of 1 per cent to 3 per cent. READ MORE

The Nifty Bank, Private Bank, and Metal indices, too, added between 1 per cent and 1.2 per cent.

On the downside, the Nifty Realty and Pharma indices slipped 1 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively.

Global markets

World stocks were pinned down on Thursday as investors awaited US data expected to offer clues on inflation. The Euro STOXX 600 lost 0.2 per cent, with German shares down 0.5 per cent and London's main index making slim losses. France gained 0.1 per cent.

The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 49 countries, was flat. Earlier, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan clawed back losses to trade flat at 695.37.

Japan's Nikkei, South Korea's Kospi, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.3 per cent, 0.1 per cent, and 0.2 per cent, respectively.

(With inputs from Reuters)