New Delhi: Extending their record-setting spree for the third day, the BSE Sensex today closed above the 29,000-mark for the first time and the Nifty touched another peak of 8,774.15 with sustained buying by funds in healthcare, capital goods, metal and auto sector stocks.
Continuing its surge for the sixth day, the BSE Sensex crossed the landmark 29,000-level for the first time to hit a life-time high of 29,060.41.
After paring some gains, the 30-share index settled at an all-time closing peak of 29,006.02, up by 117.16 points, or 0.41 per cent, over the previous close. It surpassed the earlier record closing of 28,888.86 hit yesterday.
The gauge has now gone up by 1,659.20 points in the six consecutive sessions.
It took 50 trading sessions from November 12 to January 22 to reach the historic 29,000-level from 28,000.
Also, the NSE Nifty continued its winning run and zoomed to hit a fresh record high of 8,774.15, breaking its earlier record of 8,741.85 (intra-day) reached yesterday.
However, profit-booking at record levels trimmed some gains but the Nifty ended at a new record high of 8,761.40, up 31.90 points, surpassing its previous closing peak of 8,729.50 in yesterday's trade.
Improving macroeconomic data, surprise rate cut by the Apex bank last week and encouraging Q3 earnings by some bluechip companies and positive global cues buoyed the market and helped key indices to hit new highs, brokers said.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remained the main driving force behind the ongoing bull-run. FPIs bought shares worth a net Rs 2,065.49 crore yesterday, according to provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Sensex components which supported the key indices to hit fresh highs were Sun Pharma (3.65 pc), Axis Bank (3.30 pc), Tata Motors (2.70 pc), ONGC (2.01 pc), Cipla (1.73 pc), Tata Steel (1.51 pc), Infosys (1.41 pc), Coal India (1.24 pc), Wipro (1.17 pc), Dr Reddy (1.01 pc), L&T (0.86 pc), Sesa Sterlite (0.83 pc), BHEL (0.67 pc), M&M (0.47 pc), HUL (0.40 pc), Hindalco (0.24 pc) and Bharti Airtel (0.24 pc).
Sectorwise, BSE Healthcare index gained the most by rising 1.69 per cent, followed by Capital Goods index 1.12 per cent, Auto index 0.72 per cent, Metal index 0.67 per cent, Realty index 0.54 per cent, IT index 0.45 per cent, Banking index 0.37 per cent, Power index 0.22 per cent and FMCG 0.20 per cent.
Buying activity in small and midcap also gathered momentum, with the BSE midcap index rising by 0.07 per cent and smallcap index by 0.23 per cent.
($1 = 61.7300 rupee)
