Bull Run Continues; Sensex & Nifty At Record Highs

(RTTNews) - Indian shares hit fresh record highs on Monday, supported by strong gains in realty, capital goods and power stocks after President Pranab Mukherjee unveiled the economic agenda of the Narendra Modi-led government while addressing joint session of the parliament.

One of the top priorities of the government would be to contain food inflation, reform the public distribution system and take effective steps to curb black marketing and hoarding, Mukherjee said.

The government will look to modernize and revamp railways, liberalize FDI in defense, rationalize and simplify tax regime to make it non-adversarial and investment friendly, he said.

Firm global cues on the back of encouraging data out of the U.S., China and Japan and reports that the government would take a call on raising the foreign investment limit in government debt soon also buoyed investor sentiment.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex jumped 183.75 points or 0.72 percent to 25,580.21, while the broader CNX Nifty Index closed at 7,654.60, up 71.20 points or 0.94 percent from its previous close.

Among the prominent gainers in the Nifty pack, Grasim Industries soared 11.4 percent after foreign brokerage firm, CLSA, raised its target price on the stock.

State-run miner Coal India rallied 5.2 percent after Mukherjee said the government will formulate clear and transparent policies on allocation of critical natural resources such as coal, minerals and telecoms spectrum.

DLF, Larsen & Toubro, UltraTech Cement, ACC, Asian Paints, Bajaj Auto and Power Grid Corp climbed 3-7 percent.

Fertilizer stocks rallied on expectations the government would raise the price of urea to cut subsidy costs. Rashtriya Chemical Fertilizers, National Fertilizers and Chambal Fertilizers climbed 5-10 percent.

Hindustan Zinc advanced 4.3 percent on reports the government has restarted the process of residual stake sale in the company. Tata Teleservices gained 4.5 percent on reports it has signed a pact with New Delhi Municipal Council to offer Wi-Fi services.

Power stocks such as Tata Power Company, Reliance Power and GVK Power & Infrastructure gained 2-9 percent after the president said the government will soon come out with a National Energy Policy that will focus on balancing power generation through conventional and non-conventional sources.

Shares of railways-related companies such as Titagarh Wagons, BEML and Texmaco Rail & Engineering rose 5-10 percent after the president stressed on the need to have an ambitious infrastructure development program for modernizing the railway sector.

Reliance Communication added 1.1 percent after launching its 'One India, One Rate' scheme. Reliance Infrastructure rose 2.8 percent after the company successfully commenced operations of Mumbai Metro through its special purpose vehicle -- Mumbai Metro One.

Bombay Dyeing jumped 5.5 percent after unveiling expansion plans. Nectar Lifesciences soared 11.7 percent on the buzz its promoters are offloading their 44 percent stake in the company.