The National Stock Exchange Nifty50 on Monday closed at a record high of 9,237.85 in the new financial year’s first trading session. The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex, too, ended in the green at 29,910.22, up 289.72 points. The boost has been attributed to a great inflow of foreign investment since the Bharatiya Janata Party’s win in the Assembly elections last month.
The rupee opened relatively higher at 64.80 against the US dollar compared with Friday’s close of 64.85. Strong foreign trade and domestic markets pushed the Indian currency to its highest value in nearly one and a half years, Mint reported.
Shares of Reliance Industries Ltd soared by 4.5% – its highest since May 2008 – following reports that Jio’s customer base had risen to 7.2 crore. However, rival firms Bharti Airtel (-3.3%) and Idea Cellular (-1.6%) suffered losses. Infosys, too, did not perfom well – its stocks dropped by 1.5% – co-founder NR Narayana Murthy denounced the salary hike given to Chief Operating Officer Pravin Rao.
Besides RIL, L&T, Dr Reddy’s Labs, ICICI Bank and HDFC were the top performers on the both indices. Bharti Airtel led the losers on both stock exchanges.
However, liquor stocks took a hit following the Supreme Court order on the sale of alcohol along highways from April 1. Shares of United Spirits Ltd dropped by 5%, Pioneer Distilleries 1.1% and Globus Spirits 2.2%.
Asian currencies were trading higher on Monday. The South Korean won rose by 0.56%, the Thai baht by 0.16% and the Japanese yen by 0.05%.
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