The benchmark Sensex created history today by closing above the 25,000 mark for the first time on heavy buying in metal, power and oil & gas shares by overseas investors, amid expectations the European Central Bank will unveil an economic stimulus shortly.
The 30-share BSE index after commencing higher, surged further to breach the 25,000 mark once more. It hit the day's high of 25,044.06, before settling 213.68 points, or 0.86 per cent higher, at all-time closing high of 25,019.51.
The rally was powered by shares of metal, oil and gas, power, PSUs, FMCG and IT.
The gauge has now surpassed its previous closing high of 24,858.59 on Tuesday. Its intra-day all-time high remains 25,375.63 hit on May 16.
The 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 71.85 points, or 0.97 per cent, to close at a new peak of 7,474.10, breaching previous record closing high of 7,415.85 on Tuesday. Yesterday, both the Sensex and the Nifty fell.
There is growing speculation that the European Central Bank (ECB) will ease monetary policy later today to support a fragile recovery, said traders.
Metal and oil&gas prices usually go up after an economic stimulus on hopes some funds will come into such assets.
Sentiment was also bullish following foreign funds inflow on continued optimism about a revival in Indian economy, they added. Metal stocks - Sesa Sterlite and Tata Steel - led the surge helping Sensex end above 25,000-mark for the first time.
Investors were seen accumulating blue-chip stocks on hopes that the government would announces industry-friendly measures in its first budget in July.
"We may see Sensex levels at 30,000 before budget," said Motilal Oswal, CMD, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 192.56 crore in yesterday's trade as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Among sectoral indices, the BSE Metal index gained the most by surging 3.33 per cent as Sesa Sterlite, SAIL, Hindalco and Tata Steel gained in 3-7 per cent range.
The BSE Oil and Gas index emerged second best performer by rising 1.96 per cent, followed by Power (1.96 per cent) and FMCG (1.49 per cent). However, the BSE Banking index ended 0.39 per cent lower due to profit-taking.
Asian stocks ended mixed today as investors await a European Central Bank policy decision later in the global day.
Key benchmark indices in China, Japan and Taiwan moved up by 0.08 pct to 0.79 pct while indices in Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea dropped by 0.02 pct to 0.65 pct.
European markets were also trading narrowly mxied as indices in Germany and UK declined by 0.14 pct to 0.23 pct while France CAC was quoted up by 0.06 pct.
Mr. Jignesh Chaudhary, Head Of Research, Veracity Broking Services said,"Today also local equities posted its third daily gain in four. Investors are closely watching the every single move of government. Already some of the steps taken by the PM Modi have boosted investor?s confidence as a result of this, during the day index rose nearly one per cent. It is expected that the new government will form business friendly economic policies which will remove the bottleneck and will eventually help the economy to grow."
Overall, 23 out of 30 sensex-based counters closed in the green while others finished in the red. SSLT was top gainer with a rise of 6.50 pct followed by Hindalco 5.54 pct, HUL 4.27 pct, Tata Power 3.64 pct, Tata Motors 3.11 pct, Gail Ind 2.77 pct, ONGC 2.01 pct Wipro 1.88 pct, Hero MotoCorp 1.74 pct, Infosys 1.48 pct, Axis Bank 1.16 pct and RIL 0.90 pct.
However, M&M declined by 1.46 pct, HDFC Bank 1.43 pct, Cipla 0.87 pct and Dr Reddy's Lab 0.74 pct.
Smallcap and Midcap indices logged their fresh 52-week highs today and outperformed the sensex, gaining by 1.42 pct and 1.01 pct respectively.
Total market breadth remained positive as 2,153 stocks closed with gains while 869 finished with losses. The total turnover improved further to Rs 4,906.75 crore from Rs 4,467.78 crore yesterday.
