Sensex, Nifty Close At Record Highs For Fifth Straight Session 

The Indian equity benchmarks closed at record highs for fifth straight session on Thursday led by gains in heavyweights like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Ultratech Cement and Tata Steel. The Sensex rose as much as 483 points to hit record high of 63,583.07 and Nifty 50 index climbed as much as 129 points to hit an all-time high of 18,887.60. The Indian markets mirrored overnight gains in the US markets after the head of the Federal Reserve said the central bank could soon ease up on its aggressive pace of interest rate hikes aimed at taming inflation.

The Sensex advanced 185 points to close at record high of 63,284 and Nifty 50 index advanced 54 points to settle at an all-time high of 18,812.

"Markets managed to end marginally higher amid volatility on the weekly expiry day.  Firm global cues triggered a gap-up start in Nifty however profit taking at the higher levels trimmed the gains as the day progressed. Finally, the Nifty index settled at 18,812.5 levels. Among the sectoral pack, IT, metal and realty remained in flavour while energy, auto and FMCG were slightly on the back foot. Amid all, the broader indices outperformed the benchmark and posted decent gains," said Ajit Mishra, VP - Technical Research at Religare Broking.

"We may see a bit of consolidation after the recent surge however upbeat global cues would keep the tone positive. Besides, improvement in the broader market participation is added relief. Participants should continue with a positive bias and utilise pause or dip as a buying opportunity. At the same time, one should not go overboard and stick largely with the index majors and quality midcaps," he added.

Eleven of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty IT index's nearly 2.5 per cent gain. Nifty Realty, media, metal and PSU bank indices also surged around 2 per cent each.

On the other hand, auto, pharma, FMCG and private bank shares witnessed selling pressure.

Mid- and small-cap shares also witnessed buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index advanced 0.8 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index rose 0.4 per cent.

Ultratech Cement was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose nearly 3 per cent to close at record high of Rs 7,278. Hindalco, Tata Steel, Grasim Industries, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Larsen & Toubro and Infosys also rose between 1-3 per cent.

On the flipside, ICICI Bank, UPL, Cipla, Eicher Motors, Bajaj Auto, Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid and Tata Consumer Products were among the losers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 2,076 shares ended higher while 1,408 closed lower on the BSE.