Markets soar to record high on rally in IT, finance

Mumbai: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty on Thursday raced to close at life-time high levels on the back of gains in index majors HDFC Bank, L&T and HCL Tech amid signs of recovery in earnings.

Investors' wealth rose by Rs 2,22,763.25 crore in three days of market rally, with the benchmark Sensex closing at an all-time high on Thursday.

The 30-share BSE index rose by 254.80 points or 0.48 per cent to close at its life-time high of 53,158.85. It touched a record intra-day peak of 53,266.12.

The broader NSE Nifty rose by 70.25 points or 0.44 per cent to a record of 15,924.20. It hit a record intra-day peak of 15,952.35.

HCL Tech was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying over 5 per cent, followed by L&T, Tech Mahindra, HDFC Bank, UltraTech Cement, ITC and Tata Steel.

On the other hand, Bharti Airtel, M&M, Asian Paints, Titan and Sun Pharma were among the laggards.

Sectorally, BSE realty, capital goods, IT, industrials, metal, basic materials and bankex ended up to 4 per cent higher.

On the other hand, oil and gas, telecom, energy and auto indices declined up to 0.87 per cent.

Broader midcap and smallcap indices rose up to 0.43 per cent.

Realty stocks witnessed sustained rebound due to better-than-expected improvement in operational performance of real estate companies in the first quarter of FY22.

HCLT, L&T, Tech Mahindra and Wipro were among top Nifty gainers, while ONGC, Eicher Motors, Coal India and Bharti Airtel were laggards.

In forex market, the rupee pared some of its initial gains to settle 5 paise higher at 74.54 against the US dollar on Thursday amid a firm trend in domestic equities.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.70 per cent to $74.24 per barrel.