Mumbai: Bulls continued their domination in the stock markets Thursday sending the benchmark CNX Nifty to a new closing peak of 7,954.35 on buying in PSU, FMCG, infra and energy shares.
Today was the last day of August derivatives contracts and operators covered their short positions and rolled over long positions to the next series, resulting in a rally for the second day in a row.
Hectic buying in shares of government-run companies, FMCG, infra and power stocks supported the market amid weak global cues, while profit booking in realty, PSU banks, metal, media and IT limited the Nifty rise.
Continuous flow of positive news from the government kept the market tempo upbeat.
After notifying increase in foreign direct investment ceiling in defence sector to 49 per cent from 26 per cent earlier, the government yesterday put in place liberalised FDI norms for Railway infrastructure, permitting 100 per cent overseas funds in several areas, including high speed trains.
However, other Asian markets, barring South Korea, finished lower.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) picked up shares worth a net Rs 290.18 crore yesterday, as per provisional data with the stock exchanges.
The 50-share Nifty moved in a narrow range of 7,967.8 and 7,939.2 before concluding at 7,954.35, a net rise of 18.30 points, or 0.23 per cent, over the last close.
BHEL, BPCL, IDFC, GAIL India and ONGC were top five gainers from the Nifty, while Jindal Steel, DLF, Tata Power, Tata Steel and Bank of Baroda were key losers.
Turnover in the cash segment shot up to Rs 20,399.51 crore from Rs 14,800.23 yesterday. A total of 9,693.31 lakh shares changed hands in 72,53,280 trades, while market capitalisation stood at Rs 90,60,960 crore.
