Sensex opens at fresh high, Nifty hits 10,850 for first time; banking stocks lead

The domestic market extended its bull march with the Sensex and the Nifty50 opening at fresh lifetime highs on Thursday. 

The S&P BSE Sensex rallied as much as 395 points to touch its fresh high of 35476.70, while the broader Nifty50 surpassed its crucial 10,850 level for the first time ever. 

At 9:20 am, the Sensex was trading at 35,382, up 300.66 points, while the Nifty50 was ruling at 10,862, up 73.70 points. 

The rally was led by banking stocks with the Nifty PSU Bank (up 1.8 per cent) being the leading sectoral gainer, followed by Nifty Bank (up 1.6 per cent).

Among individual stocks, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Statee Bank of India (SBI) were the top gainers on Nifty. 

Overseas, Asian stocks struck record highs on Thursday, with a rally by Wall Street supporting bullish investor sentiment, while the dollar pulled back from three-year lows as comments by European Central Bank officials tempered the euro’s recent rally.

On Wall Street, US stocks rose with the Dow Jones Industrial Average making an attempt to reclaim 26,000. The Dow Jones ended on an upside front of 1.3 per cent at 26116 and the Nasdaq Composite edged up to 1.0 per cent to 7298.