Sensex hits 34,000 level for first time, Nifty above 10,500; ONGC, TCS, Dr Reddy's top gainers

Extending their gains into a holiday truncated week, the Sensex and Nifty rose in early trade to scale new highs. While the Sensex crossed the 34,000 mark for the first time ever in morning trade, the Nifty hovered above the 10,500 mark for a short duration.

The Sensex rose 6.34 points to 33,946 in early trade. The Nifty was up 3 points to 10,496.

ONGC (1.45%), TCS (0.99) and Dr Reddy's (0.85%) were the top gainers on Sensex.

Infosys (1.05%), SBI (0.77%) and ICICI Bank (0.76%) were the top Sensex losers.

"Now that market has already priced-in the positive aura raised on the political front, going forward valuation and transition of reforms into earnings will be the key catalyst to fuel the market sentiment. "For the week ahead, due to lack of fresh triggers, year end and extended holidays, domestic market is likely to trade sideways but with a positive bias," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Over the last week, the Sensex advanced, notching up a significant 477.33 points, or 1.42 per cent. The Nifty was up 159.75 points, or 1.54 per cent. PTI SUM ABM

163 stocks hit their 52-week highs against eight stocks hitting their 52-week lows on the BSE. Market breadth was positive with 1,371 stocks rising against 721 falling on the BSE. 118 stocks were unchanged. 

"Going forward we expect quarterly numbers to be very important and that may give a broader cue for market and how will they act in coming months. "With that, GDP and expectations of Budget and so on will keep investors on their toes," said Mustafa Nadeem, CEO, Epic Research.

On the BSE, Welspun Corp (5.31%),  Reliance Communications (4.84%), Fortis Healthcare (4.77%) were the top gainers.

"Markets are off to a flattish start and the NSE (index) has hit the psychological 10,500 mark," said Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services. "Don't see much activity to push the markets higher as last week of the year is usually dull for financial markets."

Asian markets are trading lacklustre after Christmas holiday. In Europe, markets closed lower on Friday led by Spanish banks after separatists win Catalonia election. UK's GDP grew by 0.4%. US markets closed flat ahead of the Christmas hoilday after the signing of much awaited tax bill by the President.

On Friday, the Sensex was up 184 points at 33,940 and the NSE Nifty rose 53 points to 10,493. For the third straight week, the Sensex advanced, notching up a significant 477 points, or 1.4%. The Nifty was up 160 points, or 1.5%, during the week.