Sensex rallies over 300 pts; Nifty breaches 11,200 mark

The Sensex rallied over 300 points, and Nifty breached the 11,200 mark for the first time in early trade on Friday, as ITC lifted benchmark bourses to fresh life-time highs after posting strong Q1 results.

Better-then-expected quarterly earnings by select index heavyweights, positive Asian cues and firm foreign capital inflows boosted investor sentiment in Mumbai.

Keeping up its record setting spree for the fifth straight session the 30-share Sensex added 308.77 points, or 0.83 per cent, to hit a new peak of 37,293.41.

The index had gained 633.41 points in the previous five straight sessions.

NSE Nifty, too, jumped 77 points or 0.69 per cent to quote at new high of 11,244.30.

All BSE sectoral indices, led by FMCG, metal, consumer durables, banking, power and auto, rose up to 1.27 per cent.

ITC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, surging 6.48 per cent to Rs 305.75, after it posted 10 per cent increase in standalone net profit at Rs 2,818.68 crore for the first quarter ended on June 30, 2018, aided by lower expenses, good growth in agri-business and other FMCG business despite decline in cigarettes sales.

Other gainers were Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, Asian Paints, Kotak Bank, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Vedanta, HDFC and Wipro, surging up to 3 per cent.

RIL rose 0.45 per cent to Rs 1,115.45, ahead of its quarterly earnings scheduled on Friday.

Brokers said investors were busy creating new positions following the beginning of the August futures and options (F&O) series leading to the rally.

Moreover, data showing that foreign institutional investors made sizeable buying on Thursday, buoyed sentiment.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 2,453.57 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net of Rs 2,716.04 crore on Thursday, provisional data showed.

Overseas, Asian stocks edged higher following a series of steps by China shifting to stimulus mode.

Japan’s Nikkei quoted 0.28 per cent higher, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.03 per cent in the early trade.

However, China’s Shanghai composite index shed 0.06 per cent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.44 per cent higher on Thursday.