Sensex provisionally closes at record high

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex hit a second consecutive record closing high on Thursday after Larsen & Toubro surged as its quarterly profit margins beat expectations, although falls in rate-sensitive auto makers prevented broader gains.

Larsen & Toubro Ltd rose 2.7 percent after the company's third-quarter margins beat estimates, although Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd fell 2.9 percent on lingering concerns about higher interest rates after the central bank on Tuesday recommended making taming high consumer inflation a priority.

The benchmark BSE Sensex provisionally closed higher 0.21 percent at 21,383.01, a record closing high.

The broader Nifty provisionally closed up 0.14 percent at 6,345.75, just short of its record high of 6,363.90 hit on Dec 9, 2013.

 

(Reporting by Indulal PM; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)