Nifty scales life-time high, Sensex nears 30,000 mark

Benchmark Nifty closed above the 9,300-mark for the first time in its history on Tuesday, while the Sensex soared 287 points to a three-week high on widespread buying, spurred by strong results and upbeat global cues.

The 50-share Nifty rallied 88.65 points, or 0.96 per cent, to reach its new lifetime closing high of 9,306.60, surpassing the previous record close of 9,265.15 on April 5.

Intra-day, it surged to 9,309.20, breaking its previous intra-day record of 9,273.90 reached on April 5.

The BSE 30-share Sensex surged 287 points to end at a three-week high of 29,943.24, after shuttling between 29,961.82 and 29,780.84. The gauge had gained 290.54 points on Monday. This is the highest closing for Sensex since April 5, when it had ended on 29,974.24. Brokers said a string of strong quarterly earnings, including from index heavyweight RIL, and appreciating rupee accelerated buying activity.

The rupee ended at 64.26 against the dollar, up 18 paise. Asian shares ended higher following a relief rally in global equities after centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron won the first round of the French presidential election.

"Earnings from both private as well as public sector has shown encouraging signs, lifting banking stocks, while Nifty s surge to 9,300 gave added vigour to market.

"Government s push in the infra and affordable housing space has also kept housing, cement and realty stocks buzzing, said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Meanwhile, domestic funds bought shares worth a net Rs 984.17 crore on Monday, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold stocks worth a net Rs 279.55 crore, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.