FINAL TRADE: Indices at fresh closing peaks; Nifty closes at 22,666.3, Sensex leaps 494 pts

Stock market today: The benchmark indices hit a fresh closing peak on Monday, April 8, helped by oil & gas, automobile, and financial stocks and upbeat quarterly updates from several companies ahead of the earnings season.

The leaner Sensex index rose 494.28 points, or 0.67 per cent, to settle at a record 74,742.5 after hitting an all-time high of 74,869.3. During the day, the 50-share index Nifty hit an all-time high of 22,697.3 before settling at a record 22,666.3, up 152.6 points, or 0.68 per cent.

"The buoyancy in sentiment continued, led by sectorial tailwinds and Q4 earnings growth expectations. The up-move was largely broad-based, with outperformance by auto, realty, oil & gas, and consumer discretionary, while IT was tepid owing to insipid Q4 growth expectations due to a slowdown in spending," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said. 

The 50-member Nifty has hit a record high 19 times this year, eight times more than the 30-member Sensex.

Investors gained Rs 154,814.3 in wealth as the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies rose to Rs 4,00,86,722.74 at the end of trade on Monday from Rs 3,99,31,908.44 the previous day, according to provisional exchange data. In addition, the market cap of all BSE-listed companies breached levels of Rs 400 lakh crore for the first time in today’s session.

Nifty Bank ended at a record 48,581.7, up 88.65 points, or 0.18 per cent, led by seven advancing stocks. The Nifty SmallCap 100 rose 0.32 per cent while the Nifty Midcap 100 closed flat. 

"On the global front, after the release of robust US job data, investors are awaiting the release of US CPI data, ECB policy, and UK GDP data this week," he added. 

Global Market

European shares edged up on Monday, led by Germany's DAX, after strong industrial production data from the region's largest economy, though caution remained ahead of the European Central Bank's policy decision later in the week.

The STOXX 600 index was up 0.2 per cent by 0845, with Germany's DAX marginally outperforming the broader continent with a 0.5 per cent gain. Data from the region's manufacturing powerhouse showed industrial production rose more than expected in February, helped by the performance of the construction industry.

(With agency inputs)

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