Nifty hits 9,000 level for first time as markets extend rally to fourth day, Sensex up 160 points.

The sensex resumed higher at 28,865.12 and shot up further to 29,254.02 before ending at 29,220.12. The 50-share Nifty hit an all-time high of 8,996.80 as markets rallied for the fourth straight day on Budget optimism. The Nifty gained nearly 40 points, edging past its previous record high of 8,996.60 hit on January 30, 2015.The Nifty has now gained around 300 points or over 3 per cent since Friday. The Sensex is up over 800 points in the last four sessions.
The Sensex of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 29,500.19 points, was trading at 29,534.30 points (at 1.10 p.m.), up 75.16 points or 0.26 percent from the previous day's close at 29,459.14 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 29,570.02 points and a low of 29,364.87 points in the intra-day trade so far. Healthy buying was observed in healthcare, oil and gas, information technology (IT), consumer durables and technology, entertainment and media (TECK) stocks.
However, auto, metal, bank, capital goods and realty stocks came under selling pressure. The S&P BSE healthcare index was up 292.09, followed by oil and gas index which was higher by 233.55 points, IT index rose 99.20 points, consumer durables index augmented by 79.63 points and TECK index gained 47.12 points.
However, S&P BSE automobile index was down 199.09 points, metal index was lower by 132.56 points, bank index lost 109.02 points, capital goods index fell 54.93 points and realty index slipped 15.66 points.