Strong buying was visible on Dalal Street after multiple days of sideways movement, pushing the benchmark indices to their record close on Wednesday. The much-awaited US inflation data indicated a slower than expected rise in prices, which is positive for the market because of the likely fall in tapering risk. Further, the auto and telecom stocks hogged limelight as government announced measures for the respective sectors.
Overall, the BSE barometer Sensex ended the day 476 points higher at 58,723. The 30-pack index had touched a new peak of 58,777.06 during the session. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty settled above 17,500 for the first time at 17,519, up 139 points. It sclaed fresh high of 17,532.70 earlier in trade. Index heavyweights Infosys, Bhart Airtel, TCS and SBI were the top contibutors in today's session.
The broader markets too climbed higher and both BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap hit their respective new record levels during the session. The midcap pack ended the day 0.65 per cent higher while the smallcap index added 0.86 per cent.
Sectorally, Nifty Media reversed gains on account of profit taking to emerge as the sole sectoral loser, down 1.55 per cent. On the other hand, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty IT were the top gainers, up nearly 3 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively.
On BSE, the telecom pack, up 4 per cent, lead the sectoral gainers following the
relief for the sector by the government. The stocks of Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel gained on the back of this development, rising up to 5 per cent.