Equity benchmark Sensex rallied over 350 points in opening trade on Thursday to cross the 61,000-mark for the first time, driven by gains in index heavyweights Infosys, HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries amid a positive trend in global markets.
After touching a record of 61,159.48 in the opening session, the 30-share Sensex was trading 356.73 points or 0.59 per cent higher at 61,093.78.
Similarly, the Nifty surged 119.75 points or 0.66 per cent to a new intra-day record of 18,281.50.
L&T was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 2 per cent, followed by Infosys, SBI, NTPC, HDFC Bank, Maruti, ITC and Titan.
On the other hand, HCL Tech, TCS, M&M, IndusInd Bank and Bajaj Finance were among the laggards.
In the previous session, the 30-share index settled 452.74 points or 0.75 per cent higher at 60,737.05, taking its winning run to the fifth consecutive day, and Nifty rallied 169.80 points or 0.94 per cent to 18,161.75.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market, as they purchased shares worth Rs 937.31 crore on Wednesday, as per exchange data.
What analysts are saying
V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services
The strong results from Infosys, Wipro and Mindtree indicate that the market disappointing results from TCS was a one-off. Even though high attrition is a challenge for the sector, strong deal wins and robust demand are clear positives.
IT is likely to resume its leadership position since the prospects of the sector look bright for the next many years on the back of accelerating digitisation by businesses globally, he said, adding that the strong performance.
Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities
It was a volatile session for the markets but bulls gained strength in late trades yesterday as Nifty once again breached the 18,000 mark before ending a tad lower below the psychological mark. On daily and intraday charts, Nifty has formed a promising higher bottom formation.
Mohit Nigam, Head – PMS, Hem Securities
Going ahead, bull momentum doesn’t look like fizzling out however one needs to stay cautious following global trends. Sectors that could remain in traction are Banks, Energy, Metals, Infrastructure and Consumer Discretionary.
