Indian Benchmark indices opened at record highs on Thursday as investors remain positive on Q4 earnings. The second phase of polling for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections also started today keeping the sentiment upbeat on hopes of BJP-led government coming back to power.

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Meanwhile, Asian shares were subdued after a negative performance on Wall Street, with the Good Friday and Easter holidays keeping investors on the sidelines.

The S&P BSE Sensex gained as much as 211 points to hit a new high of 39,487.45, surpassing the previous high of 39,364, hit on April 16. Similarly, the Nifty50 index too rosed 69 points to hit a record high of 11,856, surpassing the previous high of 11,810.95, hit on April 16.

At 9:25 AM, the BSE Sensex was trading at 39,417, up 142 points, while the broader NSE Nifty50 was ruling at 11,822, adding 35 points. Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap indices gained 0.2 percent.

Reliance Industries, Asian Paints, Tata Motors, HDFC, and ICICI Bank gained the most on Nifty, while Bharti Airtel, Bharti Infratel, Hindalco, JSW Steel, and Tata Steel fell the most on the index.

Sectoral indices were trading mixed in morning deals with Nifty Auto, and Nifty Banks gaining, while, Nifty IT, Nifty Metal, and Nifty Realty fell.

Wipro gained 2 percent after it reported a 38.4 percent year-on-year (YoY) jump in net profit at Rs 2,493.9 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2019. The IT major posted a disappointing revenue performance in Q4 and below-par growth guidance of -1 percent to 1 percent for the June quarter.

Jet Airways fell 28 percent after the airline has announced that it has suspended all operations with immediate effect.

Reliance Industries gained over 2 percent, becoming the top gainer on both indices after Aramco, the world's biggest oil producer, is in talks to buy a stake of at least 20 percent in the refining and petrochemicals businesses. The company will also report its March-quarter earnings later in the day.

Globally, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched up 0.08 percent, trading just below its highest since late July 2018 brushed on Wednesday. Australian shares advanced a quarter of a percent while Japan’s Nikkei was a shade lower.

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First Published:Apr 18, 2019 10:11 AM IST