Markets open at record high; Sensex soars above 54,500, Nifty near 16,300

Equity benchmarks have seen record lifetime highs this week, as Sensex surged past the 54,000-mark for the first time on Wednesday, while Nifty reached an all-time peak of 16,246.85

Sensex opened over 200 points in early trade on Thursday to reach 54,576.60, while the blue-chip Nifty 50 index also rose 27.40 points and was trading at 16,286.20 in the opening session. However, Sensex soon pared its initial gains on profit-booking and was trading in the negative territory amid a mixed trend in global markets. The 30-share index later turned flat, slipping 8.33 points or 0.02 per cent to 54,361.44.

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In a similar move, the Nifty banking index, which rose over 2.3% in the previous session, was the top drag today, down 0.5%.

Indian telecom operator Vodafone Idea tumbled 15% after its non-executive chairman stepped down. IndusInd Bank was also among the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding around 2 per cent, followed by Titan, Tata Steel, M&M, Bajaj Finance, and SBI.

On the other hand, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, and Kotak Bank were among the gainers.

Equity benchmarks have seen record lifetime highs this week, as Sensex surged past the 54,000-mark for the first time on Wednesday, while the broader NSE Nifty, too, reached an all-time peak of 16,246.85.

On Wednesday, the 30-share Sensex ended at its new record of 54,369.77 after rallying 546.41 points or 1.02 per cent. It scaled its lifetime peak of 54,465.91 during the session. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth ₹2,828.57 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional exchange data.

Domestic equities look to be flat as of now. A sharp rebound in the market in the last two trading days was not broad-based and a sharp rebound in heavyweight financials contributed to the rally, said financial experts cited by news agency PTI.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai and Tokyo were trading with gains in mid-session deals, while Hong Kong and Seoul were in the red. Equities on Wall Street largely ended on a negative note in overnight trade.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude advanced 0.38 per cent to USD 70.65 per barrel.

(With inputs from agencies)