MUMBAI: A flurry of buying towards the fag-end today lifted benchmark Sensex by 122.59 points to new closing high of 29,681.77 and NSE Nifty index by 38.05 points to its fresh closing peak of 8,952.35 amid expiry of monthly equity derivative contracts.
It was session marked by volatility with the BSE Sensex after making a lower start at 29,516.49, further fell and touched an intra-day low of 29,378.30.
However, frenzied buying by funds and covering-up of short positions in the last 30 minutes of session helped the Sensex bounce back to hit intra-day high of 29,740.63. It finally settled 122.59 points, or 0.41 per cent higher at 29,681.77, a new record closing. The Sensex broke its previous closing record of 29,571.04 points hit on January 27.
The gauge had shed 11.86 points yesterday. Sensex constituents like Dr Reddys that gained 3.74 per cent, HDFC Bank 3.42 per cent, BHEL 2.96 per cent, RIL 2.43 per cent, ITC 2.10 per cent and Tata Motors 1.42 per cent gave support.
In ten sessions now, the Sensex has recorded a massive rise of over 2,346 points, or over 8 per cent. However, shares of Coal India Ltd today fell by 2.32 per cent after the government decided to sell up to 10 per cent stake in the PSU to raise about Rs 24,000 crore tomorrow.
"Indices upheld the prevailing positive bias on F&O expiry and concluded the session with marginal gains. Initially, markets witnessed a negative start.... "However, recovery in Oil&gas and Realty capped the decline and a strong rebound in the last half hour aided indices to close in green," said Religare Securities, President-retail distribution, Jayant Manglik.
The 50-share NSE index Nifty, after dipping below the crucial 8,900-mark to touch a low of 8,861.25 midway, staged a strong comeback and hit day's high of 8,966.65. It settled 38.05 points, or 0.43 per cent, higher at new closing peak of 8,952.35, breaking its previous record of 8,914.30.
Sectorwise, the BSE Realty index gained the most by rising 3.14 per cent, followed by Oil & Gas index 1.55 per cent, Healthcare index 1.08 per cent and FMCG index 1.07 per cent, among others. However, Metal and Teck indices ended in the red.
Meanwhile, Foreign Portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,723.17 crore yesterday as per the provisional data.