Business / Sensex hits record high at 41,893; Nifty also at all-time high in early trade

Indian markets rose in early trade today with benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty both hitting new highs. Nifty zoomed over 0.5% to a new high of 12,337 while Sensex also rose over 250 points to 41,893. Among the Sensex 30 stocks, Infosys was the top gainer, rising 4%. India's second-biggest IT company, which announced its third-quarter earnings after market closing on Friday, said it found no evidence of financial misconduct by its executives following a investigation into whistleblower complaints.

Infosys also delivered a Street-beating Q3 performance and also raised its revenue forecast for the year.

Sentiment was also lifted after index of industrial production (IIP) recorded a growth of 1.8% in November, having contracted for three months in a row, according to government data, which was released on Friday.

"It is a good sign for the economy as IIP turns positive after three months of contraction. From the consumption point of view, it is welcoming that the consumer non-durables has turned positive.However, consumer durables are still in the negative territory, contracting for the last six months," said Deepthi Mathew, economist at Geojit Financial Services.

Shares of Avenue Supermarts, which operates DMart stores, rose 2% to ₹1907.60, after delivering a strong Q3. The retailer's revenue rose 23.9% year on year to ₹6,752 crore while net profit recorded a 53% growth at ₹394 crore.

Continuing their recent outperformance, midcap and smallcap stocks posted strong gains today. BSE midcap and smallcap indices rose 0.55% each. "We stick with our theme that 2020 will belong to the mid and the small cap stocks, as they vie for investor attention as the large caps consolidate," HDFC Securities said in a note.

"If Nifty manages to sustain above 12,300 zone then we may see swift move towards 12,400 zone in near term and support for nifty is coming near 12200-12150 zone," said Rohit Singre, senior technical analyst at LKP Securities.

Asian markets were mixed today ahead of planned signing of the China-US trade pact later this week. A below-par US jobs report had sent all three main indexes on Wall Street into negative territory on Friday. Japan's Nikkei is closed for a holiday.

However, the job numbers missed expectations, it did suggest that the Federal Reserve will likely maintain interest rates at low levels for some time to come.

The main event of the week will be the signing of the Phase 1 trade deal between the United States and China on Wednesday. The Trump administration has invited at least 200 people to the White House for the ceremony.