Nifty at record close; financials, consumer staples bolster

Reuters 

(Reuters) - India's index marked its highest ever close on Friday, helped mainly by financial and consumer staple stocks and as Asian peers recovered on hopes of Sino-U.S. trade talks next week.

stocks such as Ramco Cements, Shree Cement, Orient and Cements surged after the government allowed the import of petcoke for use as feedstock in cement, lime kiln, calcium carbide and other industries.

Cash-strapped rose nearly 3 percent after a report said the company was in talks to raise up to 20 billion rupees against its forward sales. The company early on Friday deferred its first-quarter results to Aug. 27.

The broader Nifty ended 0.75 percent higher at 11,470.75. It rose 0.4 percent over the week.

The benchmark BSE Sensex ended 0.75 percent higher at 37,947.88. It gained 0.2 percent over the week.

(Reporting By in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Fri, August 17 2018. 15:56 IST