Indian Benchmark indices turned sharply higher in the last hour of trade today(17th August 2021) amid strong gains in IT heavyweights, FMCGs, and HDFC stock. The frontline BSE barometer zoomed 210 points, or 0.4 percent, to end at 55,792 levels while the NSE's Nifty50 closed at 16,615-mark, up 52 points or 0.3 percent.
In the intra-day deals, both the indices scaled new peaks of 55,855 and 16,628.5 levels, respectively.
In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index outperformed its small-cap and large-cap peers and advanced 0.7 percent. The BSE SmallCap index, meanwhile, was up 0.3 percent.
Sectorally, the Nifty IT index hit a new lifetime high of 33,487 in the intra-day. It ended 2.6 percent higher at 33,415. On the downside, the Nifty Metal index skidded 2.5 percent.