Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Aug 12 : Equity indices touched fresh record highs on Thursday with strong buying in PSU bank and IT stocks. At the closing bell, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 318 points or 0.58 per cent at 54,844 while the Nifty 50 ticked higher by 82 points or 0.5 per cent to 16,364. Except for Nifty pharma which dipped by 1.1 per cent, all sectoral indices were in the positive terrain with Nifty IT up by 1.7 per cent, PSU bank by 1.3 per cent, realty by 1.2 per cent and auto by 0.4 per cent. Among stocks, Power Grid Corporation gained by 6 per cent to Rs 186.95 per share. Tech Mahindra advanced by 4.9 per cent, HCL Technologies by 2.6 per cent and Wipro by 0.7 per cent. Tata Motors surged by 3.9 per cent, Larsen & Toubro by 2.7 per cent, ICICI Bank by 1.3 per cent, Hindalco by 0.8 per cent and Tata Steel by 0.7 per cent. However, Eicher Motors lost by 4 per cent, Dr Reddy’s by 0.8 per cent, Cipla by 0.5 per cent and Nestle India by 0.2 per cent. Meanwhile, Asian shares failed to follow a strong close on Wall Street with fears about the spread of Delta variant of coronavirus weighing on sentiment. The Hong Kong benchmark fell 0.53 per cent as weak lending data fanned economic slowdown concerns. Japan’s Nikkei slipped 0.2 per cent as chip stocks took hit from outlook worries and South Korean stocks slipped for sixth day by 0.38 per cent as chip shares dived.
