Sensex Closes At A New Record High; Telecom Stocks Lead

Sustained buying in frontline stocks, especially HDFC saw the Sensex close at a new record high, while the Nifty was just a few points away from closing at a record high.

Strong global cues, especially higher Dow Futures, which was pointing to higher opening, pushed indices higher. The Sensex ended the day higher by 529 points at 40,889 points, which was a new record high, while the Nifty closed higher by 159 points.

Among the top gainers from the Nifty were Bharti Airtel, Bharti Infratel, Hindalco, Tata Steel and Grasim Industries.

Among the stocks that lost ground were Zee TV and Yes Bank. In fact, the latter fell because it would be excluded from the Sensex component very shortly.

Shares in Unichem rose as much as 12 percent to Rs 171 each. The firm received ANDA approval for Atenolol Tablets from U.S. FDA.

Shares in the Asian markets ended higher after reports on talks between the US and China and elections in Hong Kong.