Nifty hits fresh record; Sensex gains 52 points

The NSE benchmark Nifty advanced over 33 points to close at a fresh lifetime high of 20,103 while Sensex ticked higher for the tenth straight session on Thursday, helped by fag-end buying in oil & gas, metal and commodity stocks amid a largely firm trend in global equities.

After swinging between gains and losses throughout the session, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 52.01 points or 0.08 per cent to settle at 67,519.

During the session, it jumped 304.06 points or 0.45 per cent to hit its all-time intra-day high of 67,771.05.

The Nifty advanced 33.10 points or 0.16 per cent to end at its all-time closing high of 20,103.10.

During the day, it gained 97.65 points or 0.48 per cent to reach its lifetime intra-day peak of 20,167.65.

Mahindra & Mahindra was the biggest gainer on the Sensex chart, rising 2.56 per cent, followed by Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, Nestle, Power Grid, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Axis Bank, UltraTech Cement and L&T.

In contrast, Asian Paints, ITC, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel and Tata Motors were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the positive territory.

Wholesale price-based inflation remained in the negative territory for the fifth straight month in August at (-) 0.52 per cent, but prices of food articles and fuel showed an uptick.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.56 per cent to $92.39 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,631.63 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.