Nifty hits 16-month closing high, up 137 points at 8,744

Mumbai, Aug 30 (PTI) NSE Nifty rose by 137 points to hit afresh 16-month closing high tracking positive global cues,improved FII inflows despite likely Fed rate hike amidall-round late buying mainly in banks, IT, auto, FMCG, pharmasurged the bourse. On the global front, most Asia markets ended higher onpositive lead from Wall Street, while Japanese shares edgeddown in muted reaction to better-than-expected economic data. In Europe, the FTSE 100 was trading up 0.10 pct. DAXand the CAC 40 were trading lower by 1 per cent each. The 50-share Nifty opened lower at 8,646.75 andhovered between 8,750.60 and 8,642.25, before ending at8,744.35, showing a smart rise of 136.90 pts or 1.59 per centfrom its last close. It witnessed an intra-day movement ofabout 108.35 points. (The key index closed at April 15,2015 at 8,750.20). On sectoral front, PSU climbed by 2.10 per centfollowed by IT (1.80 pct), Auto (1.74 pct), Bank (1.64 pct),FMCG (1.60 per cent), Pharma (1.50 pct), Pvt Bank (1.46 pct),Finance Service (1.47 pct), Energy (1.17 pct), Metal 1.05pct), Realty (0.85 pct) and Infra (0.45 pct). Notable index gainers were Ambuja Cem (4.11 per cent),Bosch Ltd (4.08 per cent), Grasim (3.52 per cent), ACC (3.28per cent), EicherMot (3.29 per cent), Hindalco (3.22 percent), Tech M (3.10 per cent), Bajaj Auto (3.02 per cent)and AsianPaint (3.00 per cent). Notable laggards included BhartiaAirtel (3.14 pct),Idea (0.69 per cent), Zeel (0.17 per cent) and BHEL (0.28 pct. A total of 1009 scrips advanced, 578 fell, while 95remained unchanged. Total securities that hit their pricebands were 106. Turnover in cash segment rose by Rs 19,707.12 crorefrom Rs 16,276.17 crore as on Monday. A total of 9,236.58 lakh shares changed hands in77,16,265 trades. The market capitalisation of NSE stood at Rs1,08,83,023.81 crore. PTI ARRABI