Sensex scales another record high, closes above 18,650

The record-breaking trend continued on the bourses, with the Sensex crossing another milestone of 18,700 in today's trades. Domestic indices rallied today following the surge in Asian indices, cheered by the gains in Wall Street after the minutes from the US Federal Reserve supported hopes for another interest rate cut to stimulate economic growth in the USA. Taking cues from strong global trend, the Sensex opened with wide upside gap of 193 points and scaled a new peak of 18,704 by noon on sustained buying in information technology, capital goods, and banking stocks. Peace on political front also supported the market to remain buoyant. The Sensex recorded gains for the third straight session and added 378 points to close at 18,658, while the Nifty moved up by 114 points at 5,441.

Surprisingly, the market breadth was negative. Of the 2,806 stocks traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 1,417 stocks declined, 1,325 stocks advanced, and 64 stocks ended unchanged. Out of 12 sectoral indices on the BSE, ten indices ended in positive territory. The BSE CG index ended firm with gains of 4.37% at 16,631, while the BSE IT index rose 3.25% at 5,049 and The BSE Metal index added 2.58% at 14,444. However, the BSE CD index and the BSE FMCG index ended weak.

Action in several index heavyweights lifted the market. L&T led the pack and shot up by 6.60% at Rs3,372. BHEL soared 4.20% at Rs2,331, Hindlaco surged 3.84% at Rs170, Infosys flared up by 3.74% at Rs2,125 and ACC jumped by 3.53% at Rs1,218. Reliance Energy added 3.40% at Rs1,586, Bharti Airtel advanced by 3.04% at Rs1,072, Satyam Computer moved up by 2.91% at Rs484, and Wipro was up 2.83% at Rs503. However, Dr Reddy's Lab slipped 1.47% at Rs633 while, Bajaj Auto at Rs2,621, Ranbaxy at Rs425, Maruti Udyog at Rs1101, ITC at Rs184 and HLL at Rs224 slipped marginally.

IT stocks rallied sharply on expectations of better quarterly numbers. Tech Mahindra shot up by 9.32% at Rs1,441, Mphasis soared 3.70% at Rs301, HCL Tech flared up by 3.42% at Rs330 and I-flex Solutions added 2.94% at Rs1,919.

Over 2.61 crore Reliance Natural Resources shares changed hands on the BSE followed by Reliance Petroleum (2.44 crore shares), Ispat Industries (1.57 crore shares), Tata Teleservices (1.56 crore shares), and IFCI (1.36 crore shares).

Valuewise, Reliance Industries registered a turnover of Rs433 crore on the BSE followed by Reliance Petroleum (Rs417 crore), Reliance Energy (Rs386 crore), Reliance Communication (Rs353 crore) and Reliance Natural Resources (Rs244 crore).