Sensex peaks 33,692 for first time ever, Airtel nears record high

Indian stock markets extended the record-breaking run with the key equity indices Sensex and Nifty opening at lifetime highs led by the optimism following a positive round of corporate earnings.

Indian stock markets extended the record-breaking run with the key equity indices Sensex and Nifty opening at lifetime highs led by the optimism following a positive round of corporate earnings. The early indicator of NSE Nifty was also trading 0.16% higher at 10,472 on the Singapore Stock Exchange. NSE Nifty rose 37.75 points or 0.36% to open at 10,461.55 while BSE Sensex gained 94.12 points or 0.28% to start at 33,667.34. Shares of Bharti Airtel were the lead gainer on both Sensex and Nifty, jumped 3.97% to hit a fresh 10-year high of Rs 564.8 after Bharti Telecom acquired 4.62% stake in Bharti Airtel in a block deal. About 18.47 crore shares were traded in the block deal.

The stocks of Axis Bank, ONGC, Ambuja Cements, Dr Reddy’s also gained in the opening trade, advancing up to 2.41%. Shares of Vedanta hit a fresh 52-week high, rose 1.64% to Rs 346.4 on NSE after the company reported a 43% jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,036 crore for the July-September quarter led by higher production and strong commodity prices. Heavyweight shares of Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, L&T and ITC contributed the most to the Sensex upsurge. Collectively these four stocks added about 60 points in the index while a decline in shares of RIL, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma capped further gains.

Within minutes of trading, markets retreated the gains and swung into red. The benchmark Sensex which advanced 119.36 points to hit an all-time high of 33,692.58 was trading slightly lower, down 0.08% at 33,545.11 points whereas the broader Nifty which too hit a record high of 10,461.7 by rising 37.9 points was trading 0.17% down at 10,406.25.

Wall Street’s Dow industrials climbed to a record high on Thursday while losses in Facebook kept the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq in check as investors assessed the long-awaited tax cut plan unveiled by US President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans, Reuters reported. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 81.25 points or 0.35% to 23,516.26, the S&P 500 gained 0.49 points or 0.02% to 2,579.85 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.59 points or 0.02% to 6,714.94.