Market at new record high levels; Sensex up 662 points

Hopes of fast economic growth as well as healthy sales numbers for August accelerated the rise of key domestic indices -- S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 -- to new landmark levels of 57,000 points and 17,000-mark, respectively.

The journey to the new high was achieved in record time.

The BSE Sensex crossed the 57,000-mark and touched a record high of 57,625.26 points, while the Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange hit the 17,000-level for the first time in its history. It hit an all-time high of 17,153.50 points during the day.

It was the fastest 1,000-point gain for Nifty50. The indices made the journey from 16,000 to 17,000 in just 28 days.


Besides, BSE companies' overall market cap has crossed Rs 250 lakh crore for the first time.

The across-the-board rise was led by telecom, IT and health.

Notably, Nifty50 made fresh record high of 17,153 points, while Sensex reached a record high of 57,625 points.


At the end of the day's trade, Sensex settled at 57,552.39, higher by 662.63 points or 1.16 per cent from its previous close of 56,889.76 points.

It opened at 56,995.15 and recorded an intra-day low of 56,859.10 points.

Nifty closed at 17,132.20 points, higher by 201.15 points or 1.19 per cent from its previous close.


"Nifty gained for the third consecutive day on August 31 and closed above 17,000 for the first time ever. Nifty opened mildly higher and made an intra-day low within the first 30 minutes of trade," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.

"It later kept inching up gradually through the day to end almost at the intra-day high. Late recovery in Asian markets also helped Nifty to rise further," he added.

According to Siddhartha Khemka, Head, Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services: "Investors tomorrow (Wednesday) will react to India's GDP data due later today along with auto sales number that will start pouring in from tomorrow.


"The final leg of peak margin rules are going to become effective from tomorrow - thus its impact on market volumes will be gauged by the investors over the next few sessions as intraday trading is likely to be impacted the most."

Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart, said: "We are outperforming global markets where a move above 17,000 in Nifty pushed the bears on the backfoot, and that caused a big short-covering rally today as threatened bears are the biggest bulls for the market.

"We were doing well despite the lack of buying by FIIs and we got momentum once FIIs started to show buying interest post Jarrom Powell's speech."

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv, while the only losers were Nestle India, IndusInd Bank and Reliance Industries.-IANS