press trust of india
Mumbai, Dec 29: Equities rallied on the last trading session of 2017 Friday, bringing to close a remarkable year that saw the benchmarks surging past milestones and rewarding investors with a stellar 28 per cent returns.
The BSE Sensex rose 209 points to finish at a fresh lifetime high of 34,056.83 Friday, while the broad-based NSE Nifty jumped 52.80 points, or 0.50 per cent, to end at 10,530.70, just shy of its closing peak.
Power, IT, auto and infrastructure stocks witnessed robust buying, while the beginning of the January 2018 series of futures and options added to the momentum.
It has been an upbeat year for the markets. The Sensex and Nifty surpassed the 34,000 and 10,500 levels for the first time, shrugging off below-expected corporate earnings as well as uncertainties on the global front.
While the implementation of the GST caused short-term disruptions, investors feel the government will stay firm on its reforms agenda, backed by the BJP’s strong showing in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, brokers said.
The Sensex clocked its best performance in recent years, rising by 7,430.37, or 27.91 per cent in 2017. It had gained 508.92 points, or 1.94 per cent, last year. The Nifty too rallied 2,344.90 points, or 28.65 per cent, in 2017.
The 30-share index started the day on a strong note at 33,889.39 and hit a high of 34,086.05 before closing at 34,056.83, up by 208.80 points, or 0.62 per cent. It surpassed its previous closing high of 34,010.61 reached December 26. The broad-based NSE Nifty rose 52.80 points, or 0.50 per cent, to end at 10,530.70 after trading between 10,538.70 and 10,488.65. Both indices rose for the fourth straight week. The Sensex advanced by 116.53 points, or 0.34 per cent, while the Nifty gained 37.70 points, or 0.35 per cent, during the period.
Shares of Reliance Communications continued their rally for the fourth straight session Friday, ending 17 per cent higher after Mukesh Ambani stepped in to bail out the debt-ridden firm by acquiring spectrum, tower, optical fibre network and other assets. In four days, shares of the company have zoomed 122 per cent adding Rs5,506.76 crore to its market capitalisation.
In the Sensex kitty, Tata Motors saw the maximum gain of 3.06 per cent, followed by Axis Bank (2.74 per cent), TCS (2.72 per cent), Hero MotoCorp (2.38 per cent), Adani Ports (1.94 per cent), Wipro (1.90 per cent), Asian Paints (1.16 per cent), Maruti Suzuki (1.05 per cent), HDFC Ltd (0.94 per cent), ONGC (0.85 per cent), NTPC (0.83 per cent) and Hindustan Unilever (0.79 per cent).
Sector-wise, the rally was driven by telecom (up 1.63 per cent), power (1.46 per cent), teck (1.24 per cent), IT (1.20 per cent), auto (1.16 per cent), FMCG (0.85 per cent), consumer durables (0.85 per cent), infrastructure (0.83 per cent), capital goods (0.51 per cent), realty (0.46 per cent), bankex (0.36 per cent) and healthcare (0.18 per cent).
The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices ended higher by 0.74 per cent and 0.64 per cent, respectively. Trading was thin across global markets on the last session of the year. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.19 per cent while Shanghai Composite gained 0.33 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei shed 0.08 per cent. European markets were down in early trade with Paris CAC 40 falling 0.11 per cent, while Frankfurt’s DAX shed 0.29 per cent. London’s FTSE rose 0.27 per cent.
