The benchmark BSE Sensex breached 28,000-mark for the first time and the NSE Nifty hit a new peak of 8,363.65 in early trade today on sustained fund inflows amidst optimism over encouraging corporate earnings.

The 30-share index flared up by 141.57 points, or 0.50 per cent, to hit a new peak of 28,001.95, surpassing previous intra-day record of 27,969.82 reached on Monday. The gauge had shed 5.45 points in the previous session. Markets remained closed yesterday on account of “Muharram”.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has proposed that bank funding to listed small and medium enterprises (SMEs) be given a priority lending tag.

The move will give a huge fillip to the SME trading platform introduced by Sebi in 2012, to ease the financing needs of smaller companies.

Stock feeds on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) suffered around 15-minute hit on Wednesday when trading resumed after a day’s holiday on 4 November on account of Moharrum. The feeds opened blank when the markets opened for trade at 9:15am.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.3% to 27,936 levels in early deals on Wednesday.

Railway-related stocks are witnessing buying interest and trading higher by up to 10% on back of heavy volumes in an otherwise subdued market.

Texmaco Rail & Engineering, Titagarh Wagons, Kalindee Rail Nirman (Engineers), Kernex Microsystems (India) and Stone India are up between 4-10% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). In comparison, the benchmark Sensex was down 0.11% at 27,835.

Shares of most of the frontline automobiles companies are trading lower after reporting drop in vehicle sales during the month of October despite of the festive season.

Tata Motors, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), Hero MotoCorp, Eicher Motors and Maruti Suzuki India are down 1-2% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Benchmark indices are trading flat with a negative bias as the advance in IT shares is being offset by losses in auto shares which are down on weak Ocotber sales data.

At 9:17 AM, Sensex was down 19 points at 27,846 while Nifty was down 8 points at 8315.

Infosys has moved higher by nearly 2% to Rs 4,016, crosses Rs 4,000 mark on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The stock opened at Rs 3,987 and hit a record high on Rs 4,020 on BSE. A combined 354,764 equity shares changed hands on the counter till 1120 hours on NSE and BSE.

Shares of information technology (IT) major Infosys, the largest contributor in current rally, have contributed nearly 100 points in Sensex gain since September 8.

Benchmark indices have opened at record high levels on Friday on the back of firm global cues and and heavy FII buying. Also, the government's announcement of FDI norms for real estate sector boosted investor sentiment

At 9:40AM, the 30-share Sensex is up 198 points at 27,544 and the 50-share Nifty has gained 57 points at 8,226.

Bharti Airtel, the country’s largest mobile operator, reported a 170.2 per cent jump in net income during the July-September quarter to Rs 1,383 crore. The company’s highest quarterly profit since March 2011 was backed by a 74 per cent increase in data revenue in India as data volume doubled. Its net profit stood at Rs 512 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Bharti Airtel’s performance beat average analyst estimates of net profit at around Rs 1,300 crore during July-September. In April-June, the company reported net income of Rs 1,108 crore.

ICICI Bank – the country’s largest private sector lender reported a net profit of Rs 2,709 crore for the quarter ended September 30 which is higher by 15% as compared to the same period of the previous year.

The rise in profit was aided by 26% growth in non-interest income and expansion of net interest margins (NIM) on the back of 25% year-on-year growth in retail advances.

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