The Sensex and the Nifty touched new record-highs of 27,865.83 and 8,322.20, respectively on sustained fund inflows, driven by a slew of economic reforms announced by the government amid optimism over strong corporate earnings.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex soared 519.50 points or 1.9 per cent at 27,865.83 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty jumped 153 points or 1.87 per cent at 8,322.20.
Brokers said continued buying by foreign funds as well as retail investors, triggered by a series of economic reforms undertaken by the Narendra Modi-led government and strong earnings by blue-chip companies, drove the market rally.
Barring consumer durables, all other BSE sectoral indices ended significantly in the green. Among them, capital goods index gained the most by 2.66 per cent, followed by India infrastructure index 2.38 per cent, oil & gas 2.19 per cent and PSU 2.08 per cent. Only consumer durables index was down 3.18 per cent.
GAIL, Tata Power, HDFC, L&T and Tata Steel were the top five gainers among 30-share Sensex constituents, while Bharti Airtel was the only loser.
Global market
World shares jumped and the yen fell to a seven-year low against the dollar on Friday as the Bank of Japan surprised financial markets by significantly expanding its massive stimulus programme.
In a rare split decision, the BoJ’s board voted 5-4 to accelerate the purchases of Japanese government bonds so that its holdings increase at an annual pace of ¥80 trillion ($725 billion), up by ¥30 trillion.
The central bank also said that it would triple its purchase of exchange-traded funds and real-estate investment trusts (REITs), while sources said the government’s huge pension fund would more than double its holdings of domestic stocks.
For investors, the timing of the moves sent a strong signal, coming right as six years of aggressive US stimulus come to an end and just before the euro zone inflation data that is likely to keep the pressure on the European Central Bank to further ease its policy.
Tokyo’s Nikkei share index jumped almost 5 per cent in its biggest rise since June last year following the BoJ’s move, which it said was a pre-emptive strike at “a critical moment in the effort to break free from the deflationary mindset’’ in Japan.
European stocks opened up 1 per cent and US futures prices pointed to similar gains when trading resumes in New York. Stocks were lifted on Thursday by strong third quarter US GDP data and another round of upbeat earnings.
At 0900 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 1.3 per cent at 1,344.18 points, extending a sharp two-week rally, while southern European government bonds also made ground.
Euro zone flash inflation data due at 1000 GMT will provide the next indicator of whether the ECB might feel compelled to step up its support for the bloc's beleaguered economy.