Sensex and Nifty close at record highs after retail inflation dips
ITC, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Mahindra & Mahindra and HDFC Bank were the major gainers in the morning trade.
Indian stock markets on Monday surged with the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex closing at a record high of 30,322.12 points and the National Stock Exchange Nifty also finishing at its best yet at 9,445.40 points. The strong performance was recorded after consumer inflation rates fell to their lowest in five years in April. Consumer prices rose by only 2.99% as against 3.89% in March. The spurt was also triggered by a 1.5% rise in oil prices after Saudi Arabia and Russia announced that the cut in crude oil production will be extended till March 2018. An early monsoon prediction by the Met department also boded positively for the market.
Tata Steel was the day’s biggest gainer, climbing by more than 4% to end at Rs 456. Jindal stainless also rose, to its highest its highest in nine years, by 6% to 83.40 during the day. Idea Cellular, however, fell by 8% to by 84.65 in intraday trading. Glenmark pharmaceuticals was also down to its lowest in a year at Rs 714, a 6% drop from the previous day.
Asian markets were jittery after the ransomware cyber attack kept more than two lakh computers in over 150 countries in lock mode. The rupee was trading at 64.12 as compared to Friday’s close of 64.31 against the US dollar.