Mumbai: Indian Stock markets today extended gains with the BSE Sensex hitting the historic 37,000 mark at 11 am in the morning. NSE Nifty has also reached all-time high of 11,179.6 points following the sharp gains in heavyweight shares of ITC, SBI, RIL, HDFC Bank and L&T.. Shares of SBI (State Bank of India) rose nearly 5% to hit a 6-week high of Rs 284.75. The stock of SBI was the biggest gainer among all the components of Sensex and Nifty today. The indices may extend their gain further as the market is waiting for the Q1 results of Bharti Airtel, ITC and Maruti.
However, after hitting the 37000 mark Sensex dropped marginally and currently at 36,978.18 points (12.7 pm).
Meanwhile, Asian stocks inched higher on Thursday as the United States and Europe agreed to negotiations to ease barriers on trade, but ongoing concerns about the outlook for global growth weighed on investor sentiment. Brent crude led oil prices higher, extending gains into a third day after Saudi Arabia suspended crude shipments through a strategic Red Sea shipping lane and as data showed U.S. inventories fell to a 3-1/2 year low, the report added.