Markets scale new peaks; Nifty ends above 8,100

Benchmark share indices continued their record breaking spree to end at record closing highs led by IT stocks amid upbeat US economic data while the cease fire agreement between Russia and Ukraine boosted sentiment in the latter half of the trading session.

The 30-share Sensex ended at 2,7140 levels up by 121 points after hitting a record high of 27,225.85 and the 50-share Nifty closed at 8,115 levels up by 32 points after hitting a record high of 8,141.90.

The US manufacturing activity hit nearly 3-1/2-year high last month and construction spending rebounded strongly in the month of July.

The index of national factory activity increased to 59.0 in August 2014, the highest reading since March 2011, compared with 57.1 in July 2014, the Institute for Supply Management said.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the manufacturing sector.

Further, the US Commerce Department in a release said, construction spending rose to 1.8% in July 2014, the highest monthly gain since May 2012.

Following the tandem, BSE Smallcap index surged 0.3%, while BSE Midcap index gained 0.8%.

The market breadth ended slightly weak on the BSE with 1,527 shares declining and 1,495 shares advancing.

Across the globe:

Japanese shares hit a seven-month high on Wednesday to end at 15,728.35 up by 0.3%, with financial shares leading the gains, in the hope a cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe giving fresh impetus to his "Abenomics" growth-promoting policies.

Activity in China's services sector rebounded in August after a drop in July, two surveys showed on Wednesday, offseting factory-sector weakness and letting the government stick with its "targeted" policy stance to keep growth on track. Shanghai gained 1% and Hang Seng surged over 2%.

Meanwhile, European stocks surged and are trading firm in a narrow range ahead of ECB policy meeting with DAX and CAC up over 1% and FTSE is trading higher by 0.8%.

Rupee:

The rupee is trading at 60.3 versus Tuesday's close of 60.68/69 as most traders cited a Japanese bank's dollar-selling as the main reason for the Indian unit's gain. Other foreign banks also stepped in to sell the greenback following the Japanese bank.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 672.81 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional data from the

stock exchanges.

Sectors & Stocks:

On the sectoral front, barring FMCG index and Bankex, all other sectoral indices ended in the positive territory. BSE IT index led the rally up 2.5% followed by Realty and Teck indices up 2% each.

Metal index surged over 1% and Capital Goods index ended up 0.8%. However, Power index ended marginally in the negative territory.

The technology pack witnessed an upsurge on the back of firm U.S. manufacturing activity data.

The US manufacturing activity hit a nearly 3-1/2-year high last month and construction spending rebounded strongly in the month of July. Wipro, TCS and Infosys gained between 2-3.5%.

Bharti Airtel climbed nearly 3% after the company said its arm signed an agreement to acquire over 2.7 million subscribers of yuMobile.

Metal shares ended in the positive territory shrugging off the weakness in the domestic HSBC PMI data released today.

Tata Steel, Coal India, Hindalco and Sesa Sterlie surged between 0.5-4%.

Index heavyweight Tata Motors jumped 1.4% after receiving an order of approximately 2,700 Urban buses under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM)- II scheme. In addition, M&M gained over 1%. However, Bajaj Auto, Hero Motocorp and Maruti Suzuki declined between 0.4-1.3%.

L&T, Axis Bank, Tata Power and RIL advanced between 0.8-1.5%.

On the flip side, GAIL and ONGC which surged during the morning trades lost between 1.5-2.2% on profit booking.

In the financial segment, HDFC twins, ICICI Bank and SBI lost between 0.2-1%.

Cigarette maker ITC declined 1.7%.

BHEL, Cipla and Dr Reddy's lab were some of the prominent names in red among others down between 0.3-1.5%.

Among other shares, Shares of state-owned oil marketing companies gained after Brent crude prices were trading near 16-month lows as demand continues to remain weak on account of sluggish economic growth in China, the world's second largest economy and the euro zone.

Hindustan Petroleum ended up 1.1% at Rs 476, Bharat Petroleum rose marginally and Indian Oil Corp gained 2%.

Shares of Carborundum Universal zoomed 3.4% to Rs 196 on the NSE in the noon trades after HDFC Mutual Fund bought 10 lakh shares or 0.53% stake in Carborundum Universal at Rs 188/share via bulk deal on the NSE on Sep 2, 2014.

Era Infra Engineering surged nearly 4.7% to Rs 16.55 on the BSE after receiving a construction contract from Airport Authority of India (AAI).