Sensex, Nifty Hit Record Highs in Special Trading Session

Mumbai, Mar 2 (PTI) Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended at new closing high levels in the first part of a special trading session on Saturday, extending their previous day's sharp rally, amid impressive GDP data and foreign fund inflows.

Leading stock exchanges BSE and NSE are conducting a special trading session in the equity and equity derivative segments on Saturday to check their preparedness to handle major disruption or failure at the primary site.

The special live trading session will have intra-day switch over from Primary Site (PR) to Disaster Recovery (DR) site.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 114.91 points or 0.16 per cent to reach its all-time closing high of 73,860.26. During the 45-minute trade, the benchmark reached its fresh record peak of 73,982.12.

The Nifty went up by 56.25 points or 0.25 per cent to settle at a new closing high of 22,395. Earlier in the trade, it hit its lifetime peak of 22,420.25.

There will be two trading sessions -- the first from 9:15 am to 10 am on the PR, and the second from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm on the DR site, according to the exchanges.

"Trading members are requested to note that the exchange will conduct a special live trading session with intraday switch over from Primary Site (PR) to Disaster Recovery Site (DR) on Saturday, March 2, in equity and equity derivatives segments," BSE and NSE said in separate circulars.

Among the Sensex firms, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Asian Paints, Wipro, State Bank of India and Larsen & Toubro were the major gainers.

ICICI Bank, NTPC, Axis Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the laggards.

India's economy grew by better-than-expected 8.4 per cent in the final three months of 2023 -- the fastest pace in one-and-half years.

The US markets ended with gains on Friday.

India's manufacturing sector growth climbed to a five-month high in February amid a sharper uptick in factory production and sales, supported by both domestic and external demand, a monthly survey said on Friday.

The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose from 56.5 in January to 56.9 in February, pointing to the strongest improvement in the health of the sector since September 2023.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 128.94 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark jumped 1,245.05 points or 1.72 per cent to finish at 73,745.35 on Friday. The Nifty climbed 355.95 points or 1.62 per cent to settle at 22,338.75.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 2 per cent to USD 83.55 a barrel.