Mumbai: The benchmark Sensex and the Nifty today hit record closing high on the first trading day of 2017-18 to end at 29,910.22 and 9,237.85, respectively, driven by a rally in index heavy-weights RIL and L&T. A firming trend in global markets as traders look ahead for the US job data release and a meeting between the American and Chinese presidents later in the week also influenced sentiment, brokers said.
Buying activity gathered further momentum as funds and investors were indulged in creating positions as manufacturing sector grew at its fastest pace in five months in March, marking the third straight month of expansion, a monthly survey showed today. The BSE Sensex resumed higher at 29,737.73 and advanced to 29,926.94, before settling at fresh closing peak of 29,910.22 – gain of 289.72 points or 0.98 per cent. It surpassed previous closing record of 29,681.88 set on January 29, 2015, and its single day biggest gain since March 14 this year. The gauge had lost 26.92 in the previous session on Friday’s trade.
The NSE Nifty today opened higher and breached the again 9,200-mark and touched all-time high of 9,245.35. It ended with a gain of 64.10 points, or 0.70 per cent, at new closing peak of 9,237.85. Larsen and Toubro emerged the top gainers by surging 5.26 per cent to Rs 1,660.65. Heavyweight Reliance Industries jumped 3.94 per cent to Rs 1,371.20 its highest since May 2008 after its telecoms unit Reliance Jio signed up 72 million paying customers.
PTI