Sensex closes at new lifetime high of 31109, Nifty above 9,600 pts

The benchmark BSE Sensex hit record high on Monday rising 81.07 points to close at 31,109.28. The NSE Nifty-50 Index gained  9.80 points  at 9,604.90. The Sensex settled above the psychological 31000 mark after alternately moving above and below that level until early afternoon trade. On the BSE,  there were 1,799 declines against  861 advances and a total of 191 shares were unchanged.
Market sentiment was risen by hopes of timely onset of southwest rainfalls  after IMD in on 29 May 2017 said that conditions are becoming favorable for further advance of southwest monsoon over Kerala and parts of north-eastern states around 30th to 31st May 2017.
Consumer goods stocks like Hindustan Unilever, Dabur India and ITC rallied up to 3 percent pushing the Nifty FMCG index higher by over 1 percent. Tech Mahindra hit more than 3 year low after posting a 33 percent fall in consolidated profit for the March-quarter. The stock ended at Rs 380, down 11 percent
Stocks of Healthcare were the biggest drag on the index, after Sun Pharma fell nearly 13.2% to around 4-year low after the company on Friday reported a 14 percent fall in March-quarter profit.  Stocks of Aurobindo Pharma lost 5.5% while Lupin Ltd was down as much as 2.9%. Meanwhile, mobile carrier Reliance Communications slumped 23.5 percent to a record low of Rs 19.70 after posting its second straight quarterly loss over the weekend on account of a price war in the sector.