Nifty hits record high on brisk buying; Jindal Steel recovers

Stocks regained strength after two sessions of weak trade as the benchmark Nifty scaled fresh all-time closing peak on firm buying in banking, auto, IT, and energy counters on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) today.
The market, which faced a shade of choppiness, was underpinned by positive bias and short-covering on the eve of expiry of monthly equity derivatives on Thursday, which will also be the this week's last trading day.
Investor sentiment was mainly bolstered by overnight Government notification to further open up the defence sector to foreign direct investment (to 49% from earlier 26%). Also, continued FII buying of stocks also boosted the market.

Buying was also witnessed in shares of mid and small- cap companies. However, Infra, realty, metal and pharma shares fell on profit-booking.
On the global front, Asian markets ended higher on positive US economic data.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 364.72 crore yesterday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

The 50-share Nifty traded between a high of 7,946.85 and a low of 7,916.55 before ending at 7,936.05, showing a gain of 31.30 points, 0.4 per cent, over its last close.
Metal major Jindal Steel, battered over the last two days, regained some lost ground and rose 3.08 per cent.

Among other gainers, HCL Tech rallied 3.02 per cent, IndusInd Bank 2.67 per cent, ONGC 2.43 per cent and ICICI Bank was up 2.14 per cent.
Key losers included DLF, which fell 4.57 per cent, BHEL 1.67 per cent, Sesa Sterlite 1.60 per cent, IDFC 1.47 per cent and Kotak Bank slipped 1.34 per cent.
Turnover in the cash segment rose to Rs 14,800.23 crore from Rs 14,459.88 crore yesterday. A total of 7,584.90 lakh shares changed hands in 66,24,631 trades, while market capitalisation stood at Rs 90,55,080 crore.