Mumbai: Stellar corporate earnings and positive trade balance data Monday triggered a robust rally at the National Stock Exchange (NSE), leading its benchmark CNX Nifty to top the 8,400-mark and closed at a new peak.
Investors maintained their buying interest in rate sensitive stocks along with energy, FMCG, technology and infra sector scrips amid hopes of an interest rate cut by Reserve Bank.
Low global oil prices, strong capital inflows and encouraging corporate earnings combined to lift the overall market sentiment at this juncture, a trader said.
After a subdued trading during most part of the session, the market witnessed a sudden turnaround in late afternoon as the data showed October trade gap came in at USD 13.35 billion, lower than September's USD 14.2 billion, raising expectations that the Indian economy will begin to expand on modest pace after recent downtrend.
The 50-share Nifty jumped 40.85 points, or 0.49 percent, over its last close to finish at 8,430.75. The key NSE index hit a new lifetime high of 8,438.10 in intra-day trade after rebounding sharply from lows.
Meanwhile, equities fell sharply across Asia and emerging markets as renewed global growth concerns amid recessionary fears rattled investor sentiment after Japan's economy unexpectedly contracted in the third quarter.
SBI and Tata Motors topped the buying list on impressive second quarter earnings. The other big gainers were Reliance, Infosys, Asian Paints, Hero Moto, TCS, ONGC, Bank of Baroda, Power Grid, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Kotak Bank, ITC, HDFC, PNB, ZEE and IDFC.
Top losers included HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra, UltraTech, L&T, Sesa Sterlite, M&M, Sun Pharma and BPCL.
Turnover in the cash segment dropped to Rs 17,093.97 crore as compared to Rs 18,127.60 crore last Friday. A total of 9,105.78 lakh shares changed hands in 73,00,844 trades, while market capitalisation stood at Rs 96,65,119 crore.
