Sensex and Nifty soar to record highs on earnings, global cues

Mumbai: The Sensex and Nifty vaulted to record highs on Monday as investors scooped up tech, banking and metal stocks amid a rally in global markets in anticipation of the US-China trade deal.

After rallying nearly 300 points to its record intra-day high of 41,899.63, the 30-share BSE Sensex settled 259.97 points, or 0.62 per cent, up at its new closing peak of 41,859.69.

Likewise, the broader Nifty scaled its lifetime (intra-day) high of 12,337.75, before ending 72.75 points, or 0.59 per cent, higher at 12,329.55 -- its fresh closing record. Infosys was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, spurting 4.76 per cent, after the IT services major on Friday reported a 23.7 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 4,466 crore for the December quarter. IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, HUL, M&M, Tata Steel, PowerGrid and Tech Mahindra too ended with gains of up to 3.34 per cent. On the other hand, TCS, SBI, Bajaj Auto, ICICI Bank, RIL, Axis Bank and Nestle India shed up to 1.03 per cent. According to traders, besides positive quarterly numbers from Infosys, upbeat domestic macroeconomic data and firm global cues boosted sentiment here.

After contracting for three months in a row, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) recorded a growth of 1.8 per cent in November, mainly on account of improvement in the manufacturing sector, as per government data released after market hours on Friday.

Global equities moved higher as investors looked forward to the long-awaited phase one trade deal between the US and China scheduled to be signed this week. Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul ended significantly higher, while European markets started on a positive note.