Sensex sprints 569 points, ends at 61,306; Nifty atop 18,300; IRCTC gains 11%

Market bulls reigned on the bourses for the sixth consecutive session on Thursday as strong Q2 show by Infosys and Wipro, along with hopes of a better-than-anticipated economic recovery, lifted sentiment. The benchmark BSE Sensex reached the 61,000-mark milestone for the first time while the Nifty50 index surpassed 18,300 today.

An across-the-board rally lifted the 30-share pack 569 points or 0.94 per cent on the bourses, helping the index to settle at 61,306 levels. The Nifty50, meanwhile, shut shop at 18,336 levels, up 174 points or 0.96 per cent. Both the indices hit fresh record peaks of 61,353 and 18,351 in the intra-day deals.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index closed 0.54 per cent higher while the BSE SmallCap index added 0.46 per cent.

Overall, market breadth firmly favoured the bulls with 1,719 stocks advancing on the BSE compared with 1,637 stocks that declined. The BSE m-cap stood at Rs 272.8 trillion by close.

Market at glance:

Top gainers on Nifty: Adani Ports (up 7%), Wipro (5.4%), Grasim (4.7%)

Top losers on Nifty: Coal India (down 3%), Tata Motors (2%), Eicher Motors (1.9%)

Top Sectoral gainer: Bank index (1.8%), Metal index (1.7%)

Top Sectoral loser: Auto index (0.66%)

India VIX at close: 15.77 (down 2%)

BSE m-cap at close: Rs 273 trillion

Record high levels: Sensex (61,353); Nifty (18,351); BSE MidCap (26,874); BSE SmallCap (30,035)

Shares of HDFC Bank were trading 2.3 per cent higher, touching a 52-week high of Rs 1,677 ahead of its earnings on Saturday, October 16. Supported by healthy loan growth, stable interest margins, and lower operating expenses, HDFC Bank is expected to report mid-teen growth in net profit for the July-September quarter.

Shares of India Cement rallied 11 per cent to Rs 221.80, hitting an over 13-year high on the BSE on Thursday, on the back of heavy volumes. The stock of the cement & cement products manufacturer was trading at its highest level since February 2008.

Here are some picks from the week gone by.