Sensex, Nifty At Record Highs; HDFC Twins, Reliance Industries Lead Gains

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty Indexes surged to record highs led by gains in HDFC, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever and Asian Paints. The Sensex surged as much as 540 points to record high of 40,254 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index climbed 159 points to hit an all-time high of 12,082. Investor sentiment got a boost after crude oil prices fell in international market. As of 3:01 pm, the Sensex traded 501 points or 1.26 per cent higher at 40,216 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index climbed 1.24 per cent or 147 points to 12,070.

Global oil prices fell more than 1 per cent on Monday, extending losses of over 3 per cent from Friday, when crude markets slipped to their biggest monthly losses in six months amid stalling demand and as trade wars fanned fears of a global economic slowdown. Brent crude futures - the international benchmark for crude oil - were last seen trading 1.4 per cent at $61.12 a barrel.

Brent crude oil prices have dropped almost 20 per cent from their 2018-peak in late April.

Nine of 11 sector gauges compiled by National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Auto Index's 1.5 per cent gain. Metal, financial services, FMCG and IT Indexes also advanced between 0.6 and 1.15 per cent each.

On the flipside, Media and PSU Bank sector gauges were trading lower, down 0.8 and 0.5 per cent each respectively.

Mid- and small-cap shares were witnessing a mild buying interest as the Nifty Midcap 100 Index advanced 0.45 per cent and the Nifty Smallcap 100 Index rose 0.15 per cent.

Hero MotoCorp was top gainer in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock rose 5.6 per cent to Rs 2,830. Bajaj Auto, Asian Paints, Bharti Infratel, Indian Oil, Tata Steel, HDFC, Sun Pharma, Yes Bank and Coal India were also among the gainers.

On the other hand, ONGC, GAIL, Eicher Motors, ITC, Tech Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, ICICI Bank, Bharti Infratel, Zee Entertainment and State Bank of India were among the laggards.