Sensex gains 593 points to close above 55,400 mark

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Aug 13 : Riding on positive domestic and global cues, equity benchmark indices touched new highs on Friday with retails investors chasing IT and Reliance scrips.
At the closing bell, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 593 points or 1.08 per cent at 55,437 while the Nifty 50 moved higher by 165 points or 1.01 per cent to 16,529.
Sectoral indices were mixed with Nifty IT up by 1.3 per cent, FMCG by 0.8 per cent and financial service by 0.6 per cent.
Among stocks, Tata Consultancy Services gained by 3.1 per cent to Rs 3,360.75 per share. HCL Technologies was up by 2.5 per cent, Wipro by 1.7 per cent and Infosys by 1.4 per cent.
The other prominent gainers were Tata Consumer Products, which advanced by 4 per cent, Tata Steel by 2.2 per cent, Larsen & Toubro by 2.5 per cent, Bharti Airtel by 2 per cent and Reliance Industries by 1.5 per cent.
However, Eicher Motors dipped by 2.7 per cent despite reporting a consolidated profit after tax of Rs 237 crore for the quarter ended June on higher sales.
Hero MotoCorp, Cipla, Dr Reddy's, Britannia, IndusInd bank and Bajaj Finance too lost on profit booking.
Meanwhile, most Asian equity markets continued to ignore record highs hit elsewhere in the world and fell.
South Korea's Kospi slipped by 1.16 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index by 0.48 per cent. Japan's Nikkei too was down by 0.14 per cent.