Sensex ends above historic 60K-mark; Nifty tops 17,850

Indian benchmark equity Indices scaled historic peaks on Friday with Sensex closing above the 60,000-mark for the first time, shrugging off a weak Asia handoff. After hitting a lifetime high of 60,333 during the day, the 30-share BSE index closed 163.11 points or 0.27% higher at record 60,048.47. Likewise, the NSE Nifty advanced 30.25 points or 0.17% to record closing of 17,853.20. It took a little over 31 years for the Sensex to traverse from 1,000 points to the historic 60,000 level. Asian Paints, closing nearly 4% higher, was the top Sensex gainer followed by M&M, HCL Tech, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, Maruti and Infosys. Tata Steel, SBI, Axis Bank, ITC, NTPC and Bajaj Finance were among the laggards. Sectoral indices on the NSE settled mixed. Nifty Realty, closing 1.5% higher, was the top sectoral gainer followed by Nifty IT and Nifty Auto. On the other hand, Nifty Metal, Nifty PSU Bank, and Nifty FMCG were top laggards. Overall, market breadth was negative as 1,940 shares declined on the BSE, while 1,329 advanced and 153 remained unchanged. In Asia, stock exchanges in Shanghai, Seoul and Hong Kong settled lower, while Tokyo was in the green.