Markets ended at fresh record highs on Wednesday as institutional investors bought stocks across the board on hopes that the Finance Minister would announce reforms to boost the economy.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday hinted at taking bold measures by discarding populism to curtail wasteful expenditure and making "reasonable" tax policies for reviving economic growth.
The S&P BSE Sensex gained 325 points or 1.2% at 25841.21 while CNX Nifty surged 90 points or 1.1% at 7725.15.
Investors also cheered strong dollar inflow by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) that has helped the rupee gain along with positive global cues and advancing monsoon.
Moreover, broader markets also edged higher as BSE Mid-cap index ended higher by nearly 0.8% and BSE Small-cap index surged over 1%.
The market breadth on the BSE ended firm as 1,908 shares advanced and 1,156 shares declined.
As per provisional data from the stock exchanges, FPIs bought shares worth a net Rs 856.35 crore on Tuesday, 1 July 2014
Rupee
The rupee is trading at 59.73/74 versus its close of 60.07/08 on Wednesday after hitting 59.6650, its strongest level since June 13 on the back of heavy dollar-selling by custodian banks and some local corporates.
Global Markets
European shares edged higher on Wednesday, following fresh highs in U.S. markets and a three-year peak for Asian stocks, though dashed hopes for deal-making in the French telecoms sector kept a lid on gains.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 0.2% at 1,384.89, with benchmark indexes in Germany, UK and Italy all in positive territory.
Meanwhile, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 1%to 499.15, ground not visited since May, 2011. Japan's Nikkei added 0.3% and notched up its loftiest level in more than five months.
Sectors and Stocks
All the sectoral indices ended in the positive zone.
BSE Metal gained over 2% followed by counters like Auto, Capital Goods, Power, Healthcare, Consumer Durables, Banks, all surged over 1-2% while Realty and Oil & Gas gained over 0.3-1%.
Sectors like Capital Goods, Auto, Heathcare and Consumer Durables touched 52-week