Closing Bell: Sensex, Nifty end at record close led by banks, financials

Indian shares extended rally to end at record close on Tuesday, with beaten-down banking stocks gaining the most on the back of an improving economic outlook. The sentiment was also higher on robust FII inflows this month.

The Sensex ended 259 points higher to its closing high of 47,613 while the Nifty rose 59 points to its record close of 13,932.

In intra-day deals as well, the indices high record highs before paring some gains. The Sensex jumped as much as 361 points to its new high of 47,714 while the Nifty rose 94 points to its all-time high of 13,967.

Banking, which is among the few sectors still down this year, has been catching up with the broader market’s advance as foreign investors bet that a rebound in economic activity will benefit lenders. The Nifty Bank index was up 1.5 percent while the Nifty Fin services added 1 percent.

Nifty IT was also in the green, up 0.7 percent for the day, however, the Metal index she 1 percent and the Nifty Auto and Nifty Pharma sectors were also in the red.

On the Nifty50 index, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and HCL Tech were the top gainers while Hindalco, Coal India, Nestle, Tata Motors, and NTPC led the losses.