Sensex at new peak of 32,533 on fund inflow, F&O expiry

The benchmark BSE Sensex soared to a fresh life-time high of 32,533.34 and the NSE Nifty hit a new high of 10,068.40 in opening trade today on continued buying by investors driven by encouraging earnings by corporates amid positive global cues.

Short-covering of bets, today being the last session of July expiry in the derivatives segment, kept the sentiment upbeat.Rising for the second day in a row, the 30-share index rose by 150.88 points, or 0.46 per cent, to hit a new peak of 32,533.34.

The gauge had gained 154.19 points in the previous session to close at a record high at 32,382.46. It had also touched an intra-day lifetime high of 32,413.63.

Reflecting the overall trend, all the sectoral indices led by realty, bank, IT, technology and power were trading in the positive zone, with gains of up to 1.93 per cent.

The 50-share NSE Nifty gained 47.75 points, or 0.47 per cent, to trade at its lifetime high of 10,068.40.

Stock of India's fourth-largest software services exporter, HCL Technologies climbed



3.20 per cent to Rs 920 after the company today reported a 6.1 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,171 crore for the first quarter ended June.

Major contributors to the indices were HDFC Ltd, Asian Paints, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, TCS, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, M&M and Infosys, rising by up to 2.55 per cent.

Brokers said that the market mood remained buoyant, bolstered by domestic and foreign institutional investors' buying coupled with better-than-expected Q1 earnings numbers posted by some blue-chip companies.

Moreover, a firming trend overseas, especially the US markets which ended at record high yesterday with expectations for another US interest rate hike this year dented by a tepid Federal Reserve inflation outlook, too enthused investors.

In the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.34 per cent, Japan's Nikkei gained 0.220 per cent while Shanghai Composite index edged lower by 0.32 per cent in early trade today.