Sensex, Nifty hit new highs on foreign buying

The Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark index, the Sensex, was trading higher by nearly 130 points at 28,039.86 in mid-session on sustained buying by foreign funds and retail investors amid positive global cues.

Similarly, the National Stock Exchange's Nifty was trading higher by 30.15 points at 8,392.80.

Among BSE sectoral indices, the auto and banking sectors were the star performers, up 1.35 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively. On the other hand, the power index dropped the most by 0.62 per cent, followed by metal at 0.28 per cent, oil & gas 0.22 per cent and PSU (government-run companies) 0.11 per cent.

Bajaj Auto, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, BHEL and HDFC were the top five Sensex gainers, while the major losers were NTPC, Cipla, Tata Steel, HUL and L&T.

The Sensex surged 203.97 points or 0.73 per cent to trade at a new record-high of 28,114.03 in the morning session, breaking its previous peak of 28,027.96 reached on November 10.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty crossed the 8,400-mark for the first time in late morning trade and hit a new life-time high of 8,407.35, led by a rally in auto, banking and infrastructure stocks on sustained inflow of foreign capital.

The 50-share NSE index crossed the 8,400 level for the first time by gaining 44.70 points or 0.53 per cent to trade at a lifetime high of 8,407.35, surpassing its previous intra-day high of 8,383.05 touched on 10 November.

Brokers said that the domestic sentiment remained upbeat on continued buying by foreign funds and retail investors amid a series of economic reforms undertaken by the Narendra Modi-led government and strong earnings by blue-chip companies.

Besides, expectations of encouraging inflation data for October and IIP numbers for September also buoyed trading sentiment.

A report by Equentis Capital said, "We expect markets likely to remain positive. Stay cautious and book profits on higher levels. The government will unveil IIP data for September 2014 and annual rate of inflation based on the combined consumer price indices (CPI) for urban and rural India for October 2014 on 12 November 2014. Inflation data based on wholesale price index (WPI) for October 2014 will be released on 14 November 2014. Slower inflation could support regulators (RBI) to increase liquidity in the market in short-term and positive action by the regulators will be good for interest sensitive sectors/stocks."