Foreign funds lead Sensex to close above 11,700 mark for first time

Mumbai, Apr 5: Massive foreign fund pouring from all over the world helped the BSE Sensex close above the 11,700 mark for the first time today while the NSE Nifty index also closed above the 3,500 mark.

With this, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensitive Index (Sensex) closed at a new all-time high of 11,746.90, with a gain of 108.89 points.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty index closed at 3,510.90, an all-time high with a gain of 27.75 points.

The foreign fund inflow of Rs 477 crore on Monday in the equity markets, reported by market regulator SEBI, kept the indices flying higher since early morning.

The BSE benchmark index opened with a gap of 33 points at 11,671 and touched a new all-time high of 11,755.20, with a gain of 105 points towards the close of the session.

Sensex was a little choppy in the afternoon touching a low of 11,653, but later gained strength and touched an intra-day and all-time high of 11,755.20 points.

Among the sectoral indices, BSE healthcare index was up 3.14 per cent, BSE capital goods index was up 2.60 per cent, the FMCG index was up 1.60 per cent while the bankex index was up 1.14 per cent.

The BSE smallcap index was up by 1.63 per cent and the midcap index was up by 1.82 per cent, showing widespread gains.

The top gainers on the Sensex were - Cipla (7.31 per cent), ACC (5.35 per cent), Larsen&Toubro (4.22 per cent), Ranbaxy (4.10 per cent), HLL (3.05 per cent), Grasim Industries (2.86 per cent), Gujarat Ambuja Cements (1.86 per cent), Bajaj Auto (1.72 per cent), Hindalco (1.69 per cent) and NTPC (1.50 per cent).

Banking majors were also up, with ICICI Bank gaining by 1.35 per cent, HDFC Bank was up by 1.19 per cent and SBI was up by 1.04 per cent.

Among the midcap scrips, TVS Motors shot up by 11.54 per cent to close at Rs 175.45. It touched a high of Rs 186.70 in the day's trade.

UNI