Reliance, auto stocks boost India's Nifty, Sensex to record highs

By Bharath Rajeswaran

BENGALURU (Reuters) -India's blue-chip indexes climbed to all-time highs on Monday, led by a rebound in heavyweight Reliance Industries and auto stocks gaining on hopes of strong quarterly earnings.

The NSE Nifty 50 rose 0.68% to 22,666.30, while the S&P BSE Sensex added 0.67% to 74,742.50, at close.

The 50-member Nifty has hit a record high 19 times this year, eight times more than the 30-member Sensex.

"The sheer promise of India's economic stability, as seen from purchasing managers' index (PMI) data last week and central bank's estimate of 7% growth in fiscal year 2025 makes domestic markets very attractive for investors," Shlok Srivastav, co-founder and chief operating officer at fintech firm Appreciate.

Sustained domestic inflows into shares and positive business updates will likely keep the momentum intact over the next few sessions ahead of the earnings season, which will act as the "litmus test", Srivastav added.

Oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance, which has the second-highest weight on the Nifty 50, jumped 1.77%, recouping the 1.81% losses over the previous three sessions.

The stock led the energy and oil and gas sub-indexes higher by 1.27% and 1.45%, respectively.

The auto shares' index advanced 2.16%, and was the top percentage gainer sectorally, led by Eicher Motors, which surged 4.33% to a record high.

March quarter sales and demand momentum remain healthy, while volumes are likely to surge over fiscal years 2024-2026, NL Raghunandhan, sector analyst at Nuvama Institutional Equities said.

Among individual stocks, Tata Steel rose 1.13% after it posted record crude steel output for the previous fiscal year that ended March 31.

Online beauty store Nykaa jumped 6.44% after registering 25% jump in revenue in the March quarter.

Realty stocks rose 1.33% to a record high, led by 3.67% jump in Godrej Properties after the developer announced sales worth 30 billion rupees in its largest residential project in Gurugram.

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Mrigank Dhaniwala)