Sensex, Nifty Hit Record Highs as Pharma Lead Gains

Indian shares soared as the benchmark index and the gauges for mid- and small-sized companies hit new records led by strong gains in pharma, IT, and banking stocks amid optimism over quarterly earnings by corporates.

The broader NSE Nifty was up 0.55% at 10,616.40 after earlier rising as much as 0.61% to hit a record high of 10,623.20.

“Finally, Nifty50 appears to have witnessed a breakout with new lifetime highs as it signed off the last trading session of the week with a small bullish candle,” said Mazhar Mohammad, Chief Strategist – Technical Research & Trading advisory, Chartviewindia.in.

However, the weekly charts’ pattern was not impressive as it looks like a hanging man with a shadow which yet times results in either a pause or correction, he said. “Hence, it looks imperative for bulls to sustain above 10566 levels."

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex soared 0.59% to 34,356.90, after gaining as much as 0.65% to hit a record high of 34,374.85.

“Markets are touching new highs driven by liquidity and a global rally, as well as before earnings reports for October to December,” said Sushant Kumar, fund manager at Raay Global Investments Pvt in Mumbai. “Infrastructure and manufacturing may throw a positive surprise on the earnings front,” he added.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, the country’s top drugmaker, climbed 3.9% to its highest level since May 25. According to sources, the US FDA may inspect Sun’s factory at Halol, India next month, which was sanctioned for manufacturing process shortcomings.

The drugmaker company contributed the most to the S&P BSE Healthcare Index’s 2% increase. The US FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said that he expected to sign off on more rivals for branded drugs in 2018 as he plans to tackle a lack of competition.

Furthermore, Financials and IT stocks rose as well, with Infosys Ltd and ICICI Bank Ltd leading the indices gain. Infosys jumped 1.8%, while ICICI Bank added 1.2%.

Real estate developer Sobha Ltd surged as much as 14.8% to its highest in over 9 years following its highest quarterly sales performance.

Other major gainers that helped both the key indices to hit new highs were Yes Bank, Dr. Reddy’s, L&T, HDFC Ltd, Power Grid, ONGC, Coal India, Indusind Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Steel and Tata Motors, rising up to 3.72%.

However, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Vedanta, Hindalco, and HDFC Bank were the top losers in today’s session.

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