Stock Markets Surge: Nifty Hits Record High, Sensex Up 281 Points

Mumbai, Feb 19 (PTI) Stock markets closed higher for the fifth consecutive day on Monday with the benchmark Sensex rising 281 points and Nifty scaling its fresh lifetime high driven by gains in financial and FMCG shares.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose by 281.52 points or 0.39 per cent to close at 72,708.16. As many as 17 Sensex shares advanced while 13 closed in the red. After a firm start, the index hit a high of 72,881.93 in day trade.

The broader Nifty closed at its all-time high of 22,122.25 points, up by 81.55 points or 0.37 per cent from the last close.

The 50-issue barometer also scaled its intra-day record high of 22,186.65 helped by gains in pharma, banking and oil shares. As many as 27 Nifty shares posted gains while 23 declined.

Key stock indices closed in the green for the fifth straight day on Monday, gaining around 2.3 per cent.

Overall market capitalisation of BSE listed shares surged to Rs 391.69 lakh crore or USD 4.72 trillion, making investors richer by Rs 2.20 lakh crore.

Among Sensex shares, Bajaj Finserve, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Sun Pharma, Maruti Suzuki, ITC, and Nestle were the lead gainers. On the other hand, L&T Wipro, IndusInd Bank and TCS and Tata Motors were the lead losers.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said, "Despite an unattractive risk reward, the broader market continued its outperformance in expectation of improvements in private capex and optimism about political stability.

"Benign input costs and expectations of a pickup in rural demand will aid corporate earnings growth."

Key Asian markets were mixed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.8 per cent and Tokyo's Nikkei 225 lost 0.04 per cent while the Shanghai Composite index gained 1.4 per cent.

US market are closed on Monday on account of President's Holiday. On Friday, US stocks closed in the red, with all three major indices logging weekly losses, as investors assessed inflation readings and company earnings.

On Friday, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) were net buyers as they purchased securities worth Rs 253.28 crore, according to exchange data.