Sensex, Nifty Close At New Highs; Adani Group Shares Sizzle

(RTTNews) - Indian shares ended on a strong note on Tuesday with the benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty50, both recording new record intraday and closing highs for a second straight day.

Easing worries about interest rates, and positive reaction to election results in five Indian states contributed significantly to market's surge.

The BSE benchmark Sensex, which climbed to 69,381.31, ended with a gain of 431.02 points or 0.63% at 69,296.14. The broader Nifty50 index of the National Stock Exchange ended up 168.30 points or 0.81% at 20,855.10, slightly off a new high of 20,864.05.

Metal and oil stocks were the top performers in the session. Several stocks from the PSU and private sector banking space too posted strong gains.

Power Grid Corporation, up nearly 4.5%, was the top gainer in the Sensex. NTPC climbed 3.9%, while State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Titan Industries, Maruti Suzuki and Asian Paints gained 1 to 2.3%.

Nestle, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, Tata Steel and Reliance Industries ended moderately higher.

NTPC climbed 4.2%. State Bank of India, BPCL, Titan and Grasim Industries gained 2 to 2.3%.

Adani Group stocks were in demand after reports citing a senior US official said that the U.S. government concluded Hindenburg Research's allegations of corporate fraud against Gautam Adani weren't relevant before extending his business empire as much as $553 million for a container terminal in Sri Lanka.

According to a report, the International Development Finance Corp., was satisfied that the accusations in the short-seller's report, which said Adani was pulling off "the largest con in corporate history," weren't applicable to Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd., the subsidiary spearheading the Sri Lankan project.

Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone shares soared 15%. Adani Enterprises zoomed nearly 17.5%. Adani Total Gas, Adani Green Energy and Adani Energy Solutions hit their 20% upper limits. Adani Power surged 15.3%, and Adani Wilmar jumped 10%.

MindTree, Hind Unilever, Divi's Laboratories, HCL Technologies, Bajaj Auto, Eicher Motors, Bajaj Finance, Wipro, Infosys, IndusInd Bank and Apollo Hospitals Enterprises ended lower by 0.6 to 1.6%.

On the economic front, a survey showed India's services sector stayed strong in November but expanded at its slowest pace in a year as demand softened despite cooling inflationary pressures.

The S&P Global India Services Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 56.9 in November from October's 58.4, below forecasts for a dip to 58.0.

S&P Global Ratings said in a report that India will remain the fastest-growing major economy for at least the next three years, setting it on course to become the world's third-largest economy by 2030.

The agency expects the Indian economy to grow at 6.4% this fiscal, and expects it to pick up to 7% by fiscal 2027.