Benchmark Sensex extended gains and hit a fresh all-time high after Indian stock markets opened flat with Sensex starting on with a little uptick while Nifty was unchanged at the opening on Wednesday. S&P BSE Sensex gained 76.71 points or 0.23% to open at 34,087.32 while NSE Nifty started flat at 10,531.05. Shares of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s telecom company Reliance Communications extended gains after a massive spike in the stock prices on Tuesday when ADAG Chairman Anil Ambani said the total debt of the company would be reduced by Rs 39,000 crore and the company will close all the transactions by January-March 2018. Shares of Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, Yes Bank contributed the most to the Sensex gains. The sectoral indices of NSE traded mixed with Nifty Pharma and Nifty Realty leading the charge while banking sector indices shed up to 0.24%. Within minutes of trade, Sensex jumped on 76.71 points to hit the fresh lifetime high of 34,087.32 whereas Nifty traded in the red led by the slump in Coal India, SBI, IOC, HDFC Bank, M&M, Eicher Motors, and Infosys.
Shares of Sun Pharma, Yes Bank, ONGC, Dr Reddy’s, HUL, RIL, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki, and NTPC emerged as the top gainers on Sensex while ICICI Bank, Wipro, Coal India, and Asian Paints tripped. Shares of Reliance Communications surged as much as 24.98% to hit the 5-month high of Rs 26.66 on BSE while the stock rose 24.88% to Rs 26.85 on NSE. In the Reliance Communications presser held on Tuesday, Anil Ambani said the company will exit the strategic debt restructuring plan with a zero write-off to lenders and bankers. RCom will be reducing its debt by monetising the assets of its wireless business and no part of the debt will be converted into equity under the new plan.
US stocks declined on Tuesday as Apple and shares of its parts suppliers weakened on a report of soft iPhone X demand, which pulled technology shares lower, Reuters said in a report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 7.85 points, or 0.03 percent, to 24,746.21, the S&P 500 lost 2.84 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,680.5 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 23.71 points, or 0.34 percent, to 6,936.25.