Indian shares breach record levels on banking, energy boost

Thursday,   23-Sep-2021   04:23 PM (IST)

Propelled by rallying banking and energy stocks as fears of an economy-derailing third wave recede, Indian shares surged to fresh record highs, with the real estate subindex extending gains for the third straight day to reach a near 11-year peak. The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index ended 1.57% higher at 17,822.95 on Thursday, having hit a record high of 17,843.9 earlier, and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex climbed 1.6% to end at 59,885.36, touching an all-time peak of 59,957.25. Investors seemed to shrug off the results of a Federal Reserve meet, where it said it could start reducing bond purchases as early as November, and hinted at a rate hike arriving quicker than expected. In Mumbai, real estate stocks surged as much as 11.7% to their highest in nearly 11 years, which analysts said was due to improving property sales and the pace of the country’s vaccination drive. Banking stocks rebounded from losses in the previous session to jump over 2%, with Bajaj Finserv topping the Nifty 50 index and hitting a record high. Energy stocks hit a record high, with Tata Power ending 4.2% higher. Conglomerate Reliance Industries rose 2.7% to hit a record high. Data out on Monday showed here its telecom unit Reliance Jio added 6.5 million subscribers to its wireless subscriber base in July, up from the 5.5 million in June. Media stocks bucked the wider trend to end lower, with takeover target Zee Entertainment sliding 5.5%.