Market benchmarks Sensex and Nifty rose marginally to close at fresh lifetime highs on Friday, tracking gains in index heavyweights ICICI Bank, SBI and HDFC Bank. Gains were muted as investors turned jittery at the fag end of the session on macroeconomic concerns after Fitch Ratings cut India's GDP growth forecast for 2019-20, traders said.
Settling at a record high for the fourth consecutive session, the 30-share BSE Sensex closed 7.62 points or 0.02 per cent, higher at 41,681.54. It hit a lifetime intra-day high of 41,809.96 during the session.
Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty rose 12.10 points, or 0.09 per cent, to its new record of 12,271.80. It hit an intra-day high of 12,293.90.
Tata Steel was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying 3.23 per cent, followed by SBI, Yes Bank, Hero MotoCorp, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel. On the other hand, Vedanta was the biggest loser, shedding 3.45 per cent. Kotak Bank, Tata Motors, ITC, M&M and Sun Pharma too ended in the red.
According to traders, participants offloaded equities at the fag end of the session on concerns over economic growth after Fitch Ratings cut India's GDP growth forecast for 2019-20 fiscal year to 4.6 per cent on the deterioration in business and consumer confidence. Stocks traded with a positive bias during the day on hopes of Budget stimulus to spur economic growth, analysts said.
Further, persistent foreign fund inflows helped market scale fresh highs, they added.
On a net basis, foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 739.43 crore, while domestic institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 493.95 crore on Thursday, data available with the stock exchange showed. Bourses in Shanghai and Tokyo ended in the red, while those Hong Kong and Seoul settled on a positive note.
Benchmark indices in Europe were trading higher in their respective early sessions. On the currency front, the rupee depreciated 13 paise against the US dollar to 71.16 (intra-day).
Brent futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.14 per cent to USD 66.45 per barrel.
Also Read: Sensex jumps over 100 pts to scale fresh peak; Nifty nears 12,300
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