Nifty ends above 9,500 for the first time, Sensex gains over 250 points

Metal stocks were trading under pressure while IT, auto, realty stocks gained in today's deals

Indian shares continued their record-setting spree, closing all-time highs for the fourth time in five sessions with the Nifty ending above 9,500 level for the first time and the Sensex firmly above 30,500.

Investors remained bullish about the prospects of a good monsoon after IMD said rains are expected to arrive on the southern Kerala coast on May 30, two days ahead of the schedule.

During the day, the 30-share Sensex rose as much as 268 points to notch its fresh high of 30,590, while the 50-share Nifty rallied 71 points to its lifetime high of 9,517. Last time, both the indices had hit their record highs on May 11.

Closing at record for the second consecutive session, the S&P BSE Sensex settled the day at 30,582, up 260 points, while the broader Nifty50 ended at 9,512, up 66 points.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap index and the S&P BSE Smallcap index added 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively.

"The gains in the markets have been mainly been lifted by domestic and foreign institutional investors turning net buyers in the past week. Along with that macro factors like benign inflation, good monsoon prospects, stong government at the centre added to the sentiment. Lower inflation may also lead the RBI to cut rates in the near future," said Ankur Varman, AVP - Institutional Equity sales at SBI Capital Securities.

He added that, "The rally will only correct in case of a huge global incident. As of now, India remians stable on a global as well as a domestic level and the global markets are moving in the same tandem. Hence, in lack of any major external factor, the rally will continue."

Buzzing stocks

HeroMoto Corp, TCS, Bharti Airtel, SBI and ITC gained the most on BSE Index while M&M, ONGC, Coal India, Adani Ports and Cipla lost the most in the index.

Metal stocks were trading under pressure while technology, auto, realty stocks gained in today’s deals.

HUL gained nearly 2% to Rs 1,000, its 52-week high on good monsoon prospects. It ended 1.6% higher.

IT stocks gained with the BSE IT index rose over 1%. Tata Consultancy Services gained as much as 2.7%, while Wipro rose up to 1.6%.

Natco Pharma climbed as much as 3.1% after the Reserve Bank of India raised the foreign investment limit in the company to 49% from 31.5%.

Among the losers, Sun TV Network and Astrazeneca Pharma dropped up to 2% each after U.S. investment service provider MSCI removed the stocks from its MSCI Global Small Cap Index on Monday.

Global markets

Asian stocks climbed to a fresh-two year high on Tuesday on the back of an overnight rise in Wall Street, while oil extended gains after major producers Saudi Arabia and Russia pledged to push for an extension of supply cuts into 2018.

Investors in regional equities, however, are growing increasingly wary as valuations look stretched and with the latest rally taking place in thin volumes and led by just a few sectors.

Regional stock markets were broadly mixed with Chinese stocks leading laggards and Thailand among the best performing stock market of the year. European shares retreated on disappointing earnings.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.1%, and Germany's DAX traded flat while FTSE 100 rose 0.2% to touch a record high.

In Hong Kong, the broader market rose to its highest level since June 2015 on the back of extended buying into Chinese lenders and market heavyweight Tencent before declining 0.3%.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat after hitting its highest level since June 2015 in opening trades.

Photograph: Punit Paranjpe/Reuters