Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty hit new closing highs on Monday, lifted by gains in heavyweights such as the HDFC twins and Reliance Industries, as fall in crude oil prices and hope of rate cut by the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to arrest growth slowdown lifted investor sentiment.
The fourth-quarter growth numbers have forced many analysts to weigh in on a definite rate cut at Thursday’s monetary policy review, a Business Standard report said.
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The indices also hit their respective fresh all-time highs in intra-day trading, with Sensex touching the 40,308.90 level and Nifty at 12,103.05.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex closed 553 points higher at 40,268 levels, with Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, and Hindustan Unilever leading the list of gainers. Out of the 30 BSE constituents, only ITC, NTPC, and ICICI Bank ended the day in the red. The market breadth, however, was in declines, as out of the 2,769 companies traded on the BSE, 1,193 advanced, 1,416 declined, and 160 remained unchaged.
The broader Nifty50 index ended the day 166 points, or 1.39 per cent, higher at 12,089 levels.
Among sectoral indices, only Nifty Media ended Monday's session with losses, with Nifty Auto, Nfity Fin Service, Nifty FMCG, Nifty IT, and Nifty Metal, all gaining over 1 per cent.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index rose 136 points, or 0.9 per cent, to end the day around 15,232 levels, while the S&P BSE SmallCap index gained 71 points, or 0.48 per cent, to settle at 14,938 levels.
Shares of Hero MotoCorp (HMCL) rose 6.01 per cent to Rs 2842.5 on the BSE on Monday after the company reported a 13.5 per cent rise in sales to 652,028 units in May over the previous month. The company had sold 574,366 units in April 2019, it said in a BSE filing.
Shares of aviation companies were in focus after they rallied up to nearly 8 per cent on the BSE during the early morning trade on Monday. Heavy volumes of shares were being traded at the bourses after Indian Oil Corporation slashed Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) price, which makes up 40 per cent of an airline's cost structure, for the first time in the past five months.
Shares of Apollo Hospitals Enterprises surged 9.71 per cent to Rs 1,360 on the BSE on Monday, after the company reported a more-than-doubled consolidated net profit at Rs 84.4 crore in March quarter (Q4FY19). The Chennai-based hospital chain had posted a profit of Rs 23.8 crore in the year-ago quarter.
 "Indices close at record highs; Sensex ends above 40k-mark for first time")
