Sensex hits fresh lifetime high, Nifty scales 11,700

NEW DELHI: Headline index Sensex touched its record high of 39,017 in morning session of trade on Monday, underpinned by hopes of a rate cut by the RBI this week and positive global sentiment. The NSE benchmark Nifty50 was also witnessing strong gains and crossed the 11,710-mark. Around 10:25 am, the BSE Sensex was 349 points, or 0.90 per cent, up at 39,021, while the Nifty index was 88 points, or 0.75 per cent, up at 11,712.Fresh hopes of a progress in Sino-US trade talks kept the global makets firm which had a spillover effect on Indian equities.Asian stocks rose on Monday, as signs of progress in US-China trade talks and firmer Wall Street shares supported sentiment. Australian stocks climbed 0.85 per cent, South Korea’s KOSPI 1.1 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei 1.6 per cent, Reuters reported.Money market remained shut today on account of annual closing of accounts.At around 9:30 am, the BSE benchmarch Sensex was up 264.72 points, or 0.68 per cent at 38,937.63. The index was trading some 50 points shy of its all-time high of 38989.65.While its NSE equivalent Nifty surged 73.30 points, or 0.63 per cent to 11,697.20."The across sector participation supported by improving market breadth and above average trading volumes, signifies inherent strength of the market, which makes us believe the Nifty would challenge life time high (11760) in coming weeks," ICICIDirect said in a note.In the Sensex pack, 26 stocks traded in the green while only four were in the red. Yes Bank came ahead as the biggest gainer, up 4.46 per cent, even amid reports that Sebi is probing the lender for potential violations of disclosure norms, including insider-trading rules.Amongst other gainers were -- Tata Motors, Tata Steel, M&M, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel. ONGC, meanwhile, was leading the loser pack among Sensex stocks, falling 1.72 per cent. Among other losers were -- Coal India, NTPC and Kotak Mahindra Bank.ICICI Bank was the biggest contributor and ONGC was the worst drag.On NSE Nifty, 39 stocks advanced while 11 declined.On the BSE sectoral front, certain sectors played catch up. Energy, oil & gas and power were the only ones in the red zone. Amongst top sectoral gainers were BSE basic Material, industry and IT, rallying 2.1 per cent, 1.17 per cent and 1.11 per cent respectively.Furthermore, BSE Midcap and BSE Small cap extended their five day rally, rising 0.70 per cent and 0.88 per cent, respectively.

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