Nifty, Sensex clock record highs on Infosys, US-China trade deal optimism

By Reuters

  • 13 Jan 2020
Credit: Reuters

India's main stock indexes closed at record highs on Monday as the expected signing of a Phase 1 China-US trade deal and strong results from IT bellwether Infosys Ltd helped boost sentiment.

Investors awaited retail inflation data for December, due later in the day. At an expected 6.20% according to a Reuters poll, inflation is set to hit its highest in more than five years.

"Rising inflation after December has been priced in by the market because toward the end of the year (2019) we had seen upticks in inflation," said Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

The Nifty 50 Index ended 0.59% higher at 12,329.55, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex Index jumped 0.62% to 41,859.69. Both indexes had touched intraday all-time peaks at 12,337.75 and 41,889.63, respectively, earlier in the session.

Infosys' shares ended 4.8% higher, making it the biggest gainer on the Nifty after the IT bellwether beat quarterly profit estimates and cleared its top executives of financial misconduct allegations. The Nifty IT index closed 1.67% higher.

Yes Bank Ltd ended 5.92% lower and led the losses on the Nifty. The private sector lender on Friday rejected a $1.2 billion investment from Canadian investor Erwin Singh Braich and Hong Kong-based SPGP Holdings and launched a $1.4 billion share sale.

Shares of Britannia Industries and Hindustan Unilever Ltd gained 1.85% and 2.1%.

IndusInd Bank Ltd ended 3.25% higher ahead of its quarterly results on Tuesday and was the second-biggest gainer on the Nifty.