Nifty hits 5000 for 1st time since May 23, 2008

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At 10:55 hours IST, the Nifty touched the 5,000 mark for the first time since May 23, 2008. The rally was led by buying interest in telecom, technology, banking, capital goods, FMCG, cement, pharma and auto stocks.

However, Reliance Industries was down over 2%. The company would sell 1 crore treasury shares held by Reliance Petroleum Trust and would raise USD 437 million. Oil marketing companies like HPCL and BPCL fell 2.5%, and IOC lost 1%.

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Leading Asian markets were strong while others came off a bit from their highs. Hang Seng and Shanghai gained 1.8% each. Nikkei was up over 1% and Jakarta up 0.7%. Straits Times, Kospi and Taiwan Weighted were up marginally.

The Nifty rose 42 points at 5,001 and the Sensex was up 140 points at 16,819. The broader indices were trading in line with the benchmark indices, up 0.8% each.

Raamdeo Agrawal, Director & Company Founder of Motilal Oswal Securities said, "The Nifty at 5,000 means that index has touched a level where the valuation will be closer to 18 times of 2010 earnings and probably 16 times 2011. So, though the number looks high to what it was 8-10 months back, I think that it means very normal investing in this kind of environment and probably more positive investing environment where life would be exciting and where we could see some very interesting companies shooting up and going to new highs."

Andrew Holland of Ambit Capital said, "5000 on the index is great news. It shows resilience in the Indian markets and in India generally. At this level now one should be little bit more cautious. So, taking some protection in this market would not be bad idea, but overall great news great day."

All sectoral indices were up barring Oil & Gas Index. TECk, IT, Capital Goods, Realty, Auto and Bank indices were up 0.9-1.9%.

Bharti Airtel shot up 3.8%. HCL Tech went up 5%. ONGC, SBI, Infosys, BHEL, Wipro, TCS, Reliance Communication, L&T, ICICI Bank and HUL were up 1-1.9%.

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