Mumbai: The BSE Sensex surpassed the 27,000- mark for the first time and the Nifty touched 8,100-level with foreign funds continuing frenetic buying in pharma, oil & gas and auto stocks as good news on CAD further boosted sentiment.
Continuing its surge for the eighth day, the BSE Sensex hit fresh life-time high of 27,082.85. Later, the barometer settled at all time closing high of 27,019.39, up by 151.84 points, or 0.57 percent, over the previous close.
It took 40 trading sessions from July 7 to September 2 to reach the psychological 27,000-level from 26,000.
The NSE Nifty crossed the key 8,100-mark to hit all-time high of 8,101.95. However, profit-booking at record levels trimmed part of gains and Nifty closed at 8,083.05 points, up by 55.35 points, or 0.69 percent.
A host of positive developments on domestic as well as global fronts helped the market go on winning spree.
After better-than-expected GDP data, the current account deficit (CAD) narrowed sharply to 1.7 percent of GDP in the April-June quarter against 4.8 percent of GDP in Q1 FY14 mainly due to decline in gold imports and rise in exports.
"The sentiment has been very positive as investors are buying into the India story which has seen some encouraging signs like improved GDP growth, likely funding support from Japan and soft crude prices," Sanjeev Zarbade, Vice President- Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities, said.
Japan yesterday announced doubling of its private and public investment in India to about USD 34 billion over the next five years.
Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) remained the main driving force behind the current rally. FPIs bought shares worth Rs 554.14 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.
Cipla with a rose of 5.23 percent was the best gainer among Sensex stocks. The company launched a generic drug for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Germany and Sweden.
Other stocks which supported the key indices to hit fresh life-time high were Bharti Airtel (4.24 percent), Sun Pharma (2.50 percent), HDFC Bank (2.01 percent), ONGC (1.15 percent) and ITC Ltd (1.28 percent).
Buying activity in small and midcap also gathered momentum, with the BSE smallcap rising by 0.91 percent and midcap index by 0.84 percent.
"FIIs continued optimism and buying in equity segment, improved economic activity and easing crude oil prices, along with overall positive global markets, all fuelled the rally and the index surged to new fresh highs," Rakesh Goyal, Senior Vice President, Bonanza Portfolio, said.
Hardselling India as a manufacturing destination, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today invited Japanese investments, saying the era of "red tape" has been replaced by "red carpet" with ease of doing business and liberalisation.
"Today also local equities hit record high with the help of some blue chip companies like HDFC Bank and Cipla. Positive sentiments in the market have lifted the indices, mainly driven by the Modi factor," Jignesh Chaudhary, Head of Research, Veracity Broking Services said.
As many as 17 scrips out of the Sensex pack ended higher while 13 others finished lower.
SSLT dropped by 1.87 percent, Tata Power 1.05 percent, Hindalco 0.99 percent, Wipro 0.91 percent and Tata Steel 0.89 percent.
Among the BSE sectoral indices, Consumer Durables rose by 2.76 percent followed by healthcare 1.84 percent, Oil & Gas 1.04 percent, Teck 0.76, Realty 0.75 percent and Bankex 0.69 percent.
The total market breadth remained positive as 1,738 stocks closed higher, 1,250 finished lower while 125 ruled steady.
European stocks ended higher amid speculation that slower growth in euro zone will prompt European Central Bank (ECB) to accelerate stimulus. Key indices like France, Germany and UK moved up by 0.29 percent 0.93 percent.
