US equities closed at their record highs even as the US Federal Reserve announced the tapering of its $120-billion bond-buying program by $15 billion per month.
At home, the government’s move to cut excise duty on petrol and diesel boosted sentiment among investors. Analysts expect the cut in excise duty to further aid the recovery of the consumption economy and ease concerns over inflation.
The Nifty50 rose 0.6 per cent to 17,931.5 points, while the BSE-Sensex was at 60,141.5 points, up 0.6 per cent.
The gains in the market were broad-based with nearly all sectoral indices on the National Stock Exchange opening in the green. Among sectors, Nifty FMCG, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Bank index led the gains in the market.
Broad market stocks outperformed the largecap peers for the second successive session with Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 index rising 0.9 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively.
Among specific-stocks, shares of Eicher Motors rose nearly 3 per cent after the company reported better-than-expected earnings for the quarter ended September.
Shares of ITC rose more than 1 per cent while those of Bajaj Finserv climbed 1.2 per cent.
Overall, the breadth of the market was slightly negative as declining stocks on the NSE outnumbered advancing ones.
