Sensex, Nifty hit fresh peaks on robust fund inflows

Tracking global rally triggered by ECB stimulus, the benchmark BSE Sensex today surged by 272.82 points to set a fresh record high of over 29,408 points and NSE Nifty breached the 8,800-level for the first time.

  The 30-share index, however, pared some gains to settle the day all-time closing high of 29,278.84, up 272.82, or 0.94 per cent from its previous close.

Powered by buying across the board the indices also recorded their best weekly gain in eight months.

Rising for the seventh straight session, the 30-share Sensex commenced at new peak of 29,189.45 as robust foreign funds inflows continued moved up at a rapid pace to touch a fresh lifetime high of 29,408.73 (intra-day), breaking its previous record of 29,060.41 registered yesterday.

The key index has now soared by 1,932.02 points in seven straight sessions.

The NSE Nifty crossed the 8,800-level for the first time to scale an all-time high of 8,866.40 (intra-day) befroe settling 74.20 points, or 0.85 per cent lower at 8,835.60, a new closing high.

It surpassed previous intra-day and closing high of 8,774.15 and 8,761.40, respectively

 The investor mood was up on hopes of pick-up in foreign investments in India and other emerging markets after the European Central Bank launched a landmark bond-buying stimulus programme.

The European Central Bank said yesterday it would buy 60 billion euros a month of private and public bonds from March until September 2016 to kick start the euro-zone economy.

"Positive domestic as well as global cues have been major factors behind ongoing bull-run", said Deepak Pahwa, said a Delhi-based stock broker.

Optimism among participants over upcoming budget and expectations that government will accelerate its economic reforms process also kept sentiments buoyant, brokers said.

Prominent gainers that provided support to the market were Tata Power (6.86 pc), Tata Motors (3.81 pc), Bharti Airtel (3.72 pc), Cipla (3.15 pc), l&T (2.58 pc), M&M (2.34 pc), HDFC Bank  (2.13 pc), Sesa Sterlite (2.01 pc), Hind Unilever (1.94 pc), NTPC (1.21 pc), Wipro (1.19 pc), Hero MotoCorp (0.76 pc), SBI (0.91), Infosys (0.84 pc) and HDFC ltd (0.83 pc), Sun Pharma (0.59 pc) and RIl (0.32 pc).

Sectorally, the BSE Infrastructure index rose the most by surging 1.51 per cent, followed by Auto index that rose 1.51 per cent. Realty index (1.48 pc), Capital Goods (1.32 pc) Power index (1.17 pc), Metal index (0.86 pc), Banking index (0.79 pc), Healthcare index (0.45 pc) and IT index (0.33 pc).

Meanwhile, Foreign Portfolio Investors bought shares worth a net Rs 592.79 crore yesterday, according to exchanges.

Markets will remain closed for trading on Monday, January 26 on account of 'Republic Day'.