Stocks pull off new peaks, post third weekly gains

Stock indices today closed on a merry note ahead of Christmas as benchmarks Sensex and Nifty rallied to all-time peaks, with IT, technology and capital goods running the show.
While the Sensex came within the kissing distance of 34,000, the Nifty ended slightly short of 10,500. Intra-day, both scaled life highs.
"Passage of US tax reform bill aimed at reducing corporate tax rates and strong US Q3 GDP growth led the rally in global markets, which was extended to the domestic market and Nifty hit an all time high 10,500 (during the day). The expectation of a good Budget and strong H2 FY18 earnings is supporting this rally," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

The 30-share BSE Sensex opened on a strong footing at 33,768.47 and hit a fresh intra-day high of 33,964.28. It ended at 33,940.30, a new closing, up 184.02 points, or 0.55 per cent.
The previous closing record was on December 19 when it had finished at 33,836.74. The index had lost 80 points in the previous two sessions.
For the broader Nifty, the close came at a fresh peak of 10,493, up 52.70 points, or 0.50 per cent, breaking its previous record of 10,463.20 hit on December 19.

For the third straight week, the Sensex advanced, notching up a significant 477.33 points, or 1.42 per cent. The Nifty was up 159.75 points, or 1.54 per cent, during the week.

IT was a clear winner of the day, riding on a big order win by TCS. Soft crude prices and a strong rupee gave fodder to bulls.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in the Lok Sabha that as per the NITI Aayog, the revised projection for investment in infrastructure in 2012-17 is Rs 38,22,822 crore, which is 1.6 times the investment of Rs 23,77,746 crore achieved in 2007-12 at current prices.
The rupee soaring to an over fresh three-month high against the dollar fuelled the rally.
The stock exchanges will remain closed on Monday for Christmas.
Broader markets stood out as the mid-cap index maintained an upward trend for the seventh straight session and finished at a record by gaining 0.11 per cent. The small-cap index was also on the rise for the sixth session, beating the Sensex with a gain of 0.58 per cent.

ONGC was the leader of the Sensex ring, with a 2.87 per cent rise, followed by TCS and Infosys. Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, Wipro, SBI and L&T rallied by up to 1.24 per cent.
IT index was in the big league, up 1.31 per cent. Technology surged 1.02 per cent, along with capital goods and infrastructure.
Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers as they bought shares worth Rs 1,574.30 crore yesterday while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) offloaded equities amounting to Rs 383.99 crore, provisional data showed.
Asian shares ruled firm during the day.