Nifty Closes At A New Record High, Reliance Surges

Benchmark indices surged in trade with the Nifty closing at a new record high led by solid gains in Reliance Industries. Global cues were strong with Asian shares rallying on Friday, led by strong data from the US, which showed that the US economic recovery from the pandemic is gaining momentum.

President Joe Biden's proposal for a $6 trillion budget also boosted buying of shares likely to benefit from heavy government spending. While shares in Asia gained, European markets too were seeing traction, with the German DAX and the French CAC up almost 0.50 per cent in trade.

The Sensex ended the day with gains of more than 300 points, while the Nifty rallied 98 points to close at a new record high of 15,435 points. Reliance Industries led gains with a jump of almost 6 per cent in trade. Metal stocks also jumped on hopes that the global economic recovery was gathering steam. Among the leaders from the metal pack were Tata Steel and JSW Steel.

However, the pharma pack was not having a great day with stocks like Sun Pharma among the losers. Other pharma stocks that lost ground were Dr Reddy's Labs, which has had a stellar rally in the last few months.

Shares in banking stocks were a little subdued with ICICI Bank among the losers, though during the course of the day State Bank of India shares hit record highs.