Sensex, Nifty End Off Day’s Highs

Indian shares rose on Thursday, but key benchmark indexes ended off their day’s highs amid signs of escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Markets kept a close eye on events in the Middle East after walkie-talkies and handheld radios, acquired along with pagers aimed at over 3,000 Hezbollah members, exploded in three areas of Lebanon on Wednesday, resulting in 20 fatalities and injuring at least 450 people.

Security sources said Israeli spy agency Mossad was responsible, but Israeli officials did not comment on the attacks.

Underlying sentiment remained supported somewhat after the U.S. Federal Reserve delivered its first rate cut in more than four years and signaled further easing in the months ahead to keep the labor market from slowing too much.

The benchmark 30-share BSE Sensex hit a new record high of 83,773.61 in intraday trade before finishing up by 236.57 points, or 0.29 percent, at 83,184.80.

Likewise, the broader Nifty index hit a fresh record level of 25,611.95 before closing at 25.415.80, up 38.25 points, or 0.15 percent, from its previous close.

The broader, mid-cap and small-cap indexes, on the BSE fell half a percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

NTPC surged 2.5 percent after its subsidiary, NTPC Green Energy, filed a draft red herring prospectus for a proposed IPO of Rs. 10,000 crores.

Tata Consumer Products, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Nestle India and Titan Company rose 1-2 percent while Shriram Finance, Adani Ports, ONGC, Coal India and BPCL fell 1-3 percent.

IREDA added 1.2 percent after it received approval to raise Rs. 4,500 crores via a QIP issue.

IIFL Finance slumped 5.8 percent as it faced a credit rating downgrade due to an unresolved regulatory ban on its gold loan business.