Sensex near life-time high, Nifty above 12K

 Markets traded near-record levels on Thursday after opening in the green.

The Sensex was up 38 points at 40,690.46 from its previous close of 40,651.64 while the Nifty traded higher by 5 points at 12,004.45.

Telecom stocks fell on Thursday after strong performance over the last few sessions. Vodafone Idea fell nearly 5 per cent, Bharti Airtel traded lower by 2 per cent on the NSE.

BPCL was trading 2.30 per cent lower at Rs 532.10 a share after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved the strategic disinvestment of the Centre's entire stake in Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL), Shipping Corp, THDC India, and NEEPCO, and most of its stake in Container Corp.

It also gave an in-principle approval for the government to reduce stake in certain state-owned companies to below 51 per cent in some, while retaining majority stake management control.IANS