The Sensex rose as much as 472 points to 38724 while Nifty hit 11,693.25. The gains in Indian stock markets were today led by banking, FMCG and metal stocks.

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty hit fresh record highs today, tracking strong gains in other Asian markets. Asian shares rose today, boosted by record Wall Street highs on Friday after reassuring comments from the Federal Reserve’s chairman. Stock markets in China gained today after the country’s central bank tweaked its management of the yuan. The Sensex rose as much as 472 points to 38,724 while Nifty hit 11,693. The gains in Indian stock markets were today led by banking, IT, FMCG and metal stocks.

The breadth of the market was also strong with BSE midcap index rising 1.1% and smallcap index up 0.80% . Among banking stocks, ICICI Bank and SBI were up over 3%. Yes Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infosys and Bharti Airtel were up over 2%.

Indian markets were tracking “global cues and (corporate) earnings across the board have been relatively strong, so we are at a stretched valuation,” said Sanjiv Bhasin, Executive VP, Markets and Corporate Affairs, India Infoline.

“Inflation being moderate, there does not seem to be any cause for a rate hike, and it is being priced in the bond yields that RBI will not raise rates, for which the direct beneficiary are the (public sector) banks,” Bhasin said.

Consumer products company Future Retail Ltd’s shares rose as much as 6.2%, their biggest one-day gain since May 25, after reports said that Google and Amazon were in talks to buy a stake in the company.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 1.1%. Helping to brighten the mood, US and Mexican trade negotiators are seen as close to reaching a common position on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), with Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo saying on Sunday talks have “continued to make progress”.

In China, the Shanghai Composite index added 1.4% and the blue-chip CSI300 index rose 1.9%, after the People’s Bank of China late on Friday revived a “counter-cyclical factor” used to set the midpoint of the daily trading band of the yuan, in a bid to support it. The yuan hit a two-and-a-half-week high against the U.S. dollar in early trade on Monday as the PBOC set the day’s midpoint at a stronger-than-expected level.

On Friday, the S&P500 index and Nasdaq Composite hit record highs, following comments from the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, who said a gradual approach to raising rates was best to protect the U.S. economy and job growth. The gains cemented the S&P’s longest-running bull market, as defined by some investors.

source: livemint.com