The benchmark indices continued to trade at record highs on Monday afternoon on the back of positive global cues. The Asian markets are in the green across the board and the European markets have also opened higher after US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell struck a more dovish tone on Friday, surpassing investors' expectations.
As of 1:45 pm, the BSE Sensex was trading at 56,700, higher by 578 points or 1 per cent and NSE Nifty had advanced 177 points or 1 per cent to 16,882. All the sectoral indices were trading in the green, with the exception of the IT index.
The BSE metal index was the leading sectoral gainer on the BSE, surging more than 2 per cent.
In the currency market, the rupee rose to its strongest in two-and-a-half months on Monday, after the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman's comments sparked bets of a slower reduction in monetary stimulus. The rupee was trading at 73.48/49 per dollar after touching 73.39 earlier in the day, its strongest level since June 16. The domestic currency had closed at 73.68 on Friday.
On the stock-specific front, Tata Steel has surged 4.2 per cent to Rs 1,443 to top the gainer's list on the BSE. Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank and Maruti Suzuki are the other significant gainers on the BSE.
On the other hand, information tech stocks are trading weak, with Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS losing around a per cent each on the BSE.
Among stocks in the news, Maruti Suzuki shares were trading higher by 2.3 per cent at Rs 6,758.90 on the BSE after the auto major announced plans to hike the prices across models in September 2021.
Larsen & Toubro surged 2.87 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 1,637.65 as its construction arm won 'significant' orders from its various businesses. 'Significant' orders in L&T's order book refer to orders in the range of Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 2,500 crore.
Vedanta soared more than 2 per cent to Rs 299 on the news that its board will meet next week to consider and approve the first interim dividend for 2021-22.
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
POPULAR