INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Indian equity benchmarks scaled new highs for fourth straight session on Friday wherein the Nifty 50 index moved above its important
psychological level of 17,700 for the first times and Sensex surged over 387 points to hit an all-time high of 59,527
ITC, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the
Indian markets were outperforming Asian peers on Friday as Asian shares steadied in early after losses earlier in the week, but China
jitters and global growth concerns weighed on investors' minds, while the dollar sat near a three-week high.As of 9:20 am, the Sensex was up
328 points at 59,468 and Nifty 50 index climbed 92 points to 17,722.MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan recovered
from early losses to trade flat, but was still down 2.7 per cent on the week.Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.5 per cent after posting its
lowest close in 10 months the day before, as the saga around China Evergrande Group lurched towards a conclusion, unsettling investors.Back
home, sixteen of 19 sector gauges compiled by the BSE were trading higher led by the banking index's nearly 1 per cent gain.Telecom,
finance, information technology, real estate, auto, FMCG and consumer discretionary goods - services indices also rose between 0.5-1 per
cent.On the other hand, utilities, metal and oil - gas shares were witnessing selling pressure.Mid- and small-cap shares were
underperforming their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices rose 0.3 per cent.ITC was top Nifty gainer, the stock
rose 3 per cent to Rs 237.20
In the last two trading sessions, ITC has rallied over 10 per cent after it gave a breakout in technical charts
Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Eicher Motors, Titan, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki, SBI Life, Kotak Mahindra Bank and TCS also rose between
1-2.4 per cent.On the other hand, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, NTPC, Hindalco, IndusInd Bank, ONGC, Coal India and Power Grid were among the
notable losers.The overall market breadth was positive as 1,419 shares were advancing while 1,163 were declining on the BSE.
