Market juggernaut continues; Sensex scales 36,000, Nifty tops 11K

Domestic equities continued euphoric run for the fifth straight day riding a wave of optimism, with the BSE Sensex surging past the 36,000-level and the NSE Nifty breaching 11,000 for the first time ever following IMF's GDP forecasts for India coupled with positive global cues.

Both benchmark indices were driven strong gains mainly in metal, banking, IT and infra shares amid earnings optimism.

The major trigger behind the boost in investors optimism was the International Monetary Fund's forecast that India's GDP growth will hit 7.4 per cent in 2018-19 and the country will regain the status of the world's fastest growing major economy.

Continuing its record-setting run for the fifth straight session, the BSE benchmark Sensex hit a new high of 36,170.83 (intra-day) on the back of widespread gains in metal, PSU, oil and gas and financial counters.

Finally, the 30-share index settled at 36,139.98, up 341.97 points, or 0.96 per cent, breaching its previous record of 35,798.01 reached yesterday. The gauge had risen 1,026.96 points in the previous four sessions.

The Sensex took just five trading sessions (January 17- 23) to reach the historic 36,000-level from 35,000, while the NSE Nifty advanced to 11,000-mark from 10,000 in six months (July 26, 2017 to January 23, 2018).

The Nifty touched a new high (intra-day) of 11,092.90 today.

It closed the session with a hefty rise of 117.50 points, or 1.07 per cent, at a fresh life high of 11,083.70, bettering its previous record close of 10,966.20 reached in yesterday's trade.

Religare Broking President Jayant Manglik said: "Propelled by a combination of liquidity and optimism, Nifty rose to an all-time-high crossing 11,000. This bull run, lasting for more than a year now, has seen markets ignore higher crude prices and global geopolitical issues while latching on to domestic positives...Such buoyancy in markets was last seen in 2000."

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,567.51 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold equities worth Rs 461.87 crore yesterday as per provisional data.

Sensex components which supported the key indices to hit fresh highs were SBI (3.84 per cent), Tata Steel (3.72 per cent), ONGC (3.60 per cent), ICICI Bank (3.06 per cent), Coal India (3.04 per cent), IndusInd Bank (2.37 per cent), Infosys (2.16 per cent), Dr Reddy's (1.24 per cent), M&M (1.14 per cent), RIL (1.08 per cent), ITC (1.08 per cent), Yes Bank (1.01 per cent) and Maruti Suzuki (0.97 per cent).

Stocks of private sector lender Axis Bank ended 1.28 per cent higher after the company yesterday reported 25.34 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 726.44 crore for the December quarter of the current fiscal.

Sectorwise, BSE metal index gained the most by rising 4.29 per cent, followed by PSU 2.15 per cent, oil & gas 1.93 per cent, bankex 1.63 per cent, IT 1.20 per cent, healthcare 0.94 per cent, teck 0.92 per cent and infrastructure 0.88 per cent.

Mid-cap and small-cap indices continued to be on investors' radar and rose up to 1.13 per cent. Coming to global markets, most of other Asian markets too ended higher and European shares were up in their early deals, tracking record closing at the Wall Street in yesterday's trade.

In the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei surged 1.29 per cent, Hong Kongs's Hang Seng gained 1.66 per cent, Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.29 per cent, Singapore 0.63 per cent, Taiwan 0.19 per cent and Korea 1.38 per cent.

European shares were in better shape in their late morning deals. Frankfurt's DAX was up 0.90 per cent, while Paris CAC 40 up 0.16 per cent. London's FTSE up 0.17 per cent.