Sensex hits 55K mark for first time, Nifty tops 16,400; banks, financial stocks rally

Equity benchmark Sensex jumped over 250 points to cross the 55,000-mark in early trade on Friday, led by gains in index heavyweights HDFC twins, ICICI Bank and TCS. The 30-share index was trading 258.4 points or 0.47 per cent higher at a lifetime intra-day peak of 55,102.42, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 69.80 points or 0.43 per cent to record 16,434.20 in initial deals.