Mumbai, India (BBN) – The NSE index hit a record high, while the rupee strengthened to its highest in nearly 1-1/2 years and bonds rallied, with investor sentiment lifted by a surge in foreign investments last month.
At 3.15pm, the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 290.54 points or 0.98 per cent at 29,911.04 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 64.6 points or 0.7 per cent at 9,238.35, reports The Hindu Business Line.
Among BSE sectoral indices, capital goods index was the star-performer and was up 3.56 per cent, healthcare 1.05 per cent, infrastructure 0.89 per cent and oil & gas 0.8 per cent. On the other hand, TECk index was down 0.85 per cent and IT 0.78 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were L&T (+5.44 per cent), Reliance (+3.93 per cent), Dr Reddy’s (+3.7 per cent), ICICI Bank (+3.39 per cent) and GAIL (+2.23 per cent), while the major losers were Bharti Airtel (-2.2 per cent), Wipro (-1.53 per cent), Infosys (-0.98 per cent), Bajaj Auto (-0.86 per cent) and TCS (-0.74 per cent).
FII buying

Data out on Friday showed overseas investors bought a net $8.84 billion worth of Indian shares and bonds during March, the biggest monthly total since at least 2002, according to stocks depository services provider NSDL.
Foreign flows surged after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party won key state elections last month, bolstering hopes for additional economic reforms just as the government gears up to unveil a national goods and services tax later this year.
Investors have also been encouraged by signs the economy may not have been hit as hard by India’s shock action to remove high-value bank notes from circulation last year.
Meanwhile, activity in India’s manufacturing sector expanded at the fastest pace in five months in March as output and new orders accelerated, a private survey showed on Monday.
“It’s a combination of FII (foreign institutional investor) liquidity, which is back, and the general atmosphere is as positive as can be for the market,” said Jayant Manglik, president of retail distribution at Religare Securities.
The rupee strengthened to as much as 64.7650 per dollar, its strongest since October 2015, from its previous close of 64.8550.
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