Sensex and Nifty scale fresh all-time highs: Benchmark equity indices Nifty and Sensex hit all-time highs on Friday and settled at record closing highs, propelled by foreign fund inflows and a firm trend in the global markets. Today, the Sensex closed at 64,718 with a jump of 803 points and the Nifty closed at 19,189 with a gain of 216 points.
For the third straight day, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 803.14 points or 1.26 per cent to settle at its lifetime closing high of 64,718.56. During the day, it zoomed 853.16 points or 1.33 per cent to reach its record intra-day peak of 64,768.58. The NSE Nifty climbed 216.95 points or 1.14 per cent to end at a record high of 19,189.05. During the day, it rallied 229.6 points or 1.21 per cent to hit its all-time intra-day peak of 19,201.70.
Sensex rises 1,800 points in 3 days
Indian stock markets are in a stormy boom phase. One of the major reasons behind this rally is the comeback of FII faith in the Indian market which is one of the major driving forces of the current market rally. Inflows from foreign portfolio investors into equities crossed $10 billion in the current financial year. Foreign investors are investing money in the Asian markets. They are convinced of the more sustainable and inclusive long-term development of China and India and are investing heavily.
Intense buying in index heavyweights Infosys, HDFC twins, Reliance Industries and TCS further bolstered sentiment, traders said. Mahindra & Mahindra was the best performer in the Sensex pack, rising over 4 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Maruti, Larsen & Toubro, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Power Grid, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Bajaj Finance and Reliance Industries. On the other hand, ICICI Bank and NTPC were the laggards.
What happened in Asian markets
In Asian markets, Seoul and Shanghai ended in the green while Tokyo and Hong Kong settled lower. Equity markets in Europe were trading with gains. The US markets ended largely with gains in the overnight trade on Thursday.
"The lack of global support had restrained the Indian indices from pursuing their record highs earlier, despite the presence of a resilient domestic macroeconomic background. With positive surprises assisting buoyancy in the global market and the advance of the southwest monsoon, the domestic market succeeded in marching to new highs with renewed strength. Global investor sentiments were uplifted by a favourable revision in Q1 GDP, a fall in jobless claims, and the positive outcome of the Fed’s US bank stress test," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.61 per cent to USD 74.79 a barrel. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 12,350 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
The BSE benchmark had surged 499.39 points or 0.79 per cent to settle at its lifetime closing high of 63,915.42 on Wednesday. The Nifty climbed 154.70 points or 0.82 per cent to end at a record high of 18,972.10.
Markets were closed on Thursday on account of Eid al-Adha also known as Bakrid.
Rupee closes flat at 82.03 against US dollar
The rupee closed flat at 82.03 (provisional) against the US dollar in a restricted trade on Friday amid a rally in the domestic equities and firm crude oil prices. The rupee opened weak at 82.05 at the interbank foreign exchange market due to firm crude oil prices in the Asian trade. It moved in a tight range of 82.00 to 82.07 in the day trade.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, firmed up by 0.09 per cent to 103.43 on growing expectations of further interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve. While FII inflows into equities supported the rupee, a firm US dollar in global markets and gains in crude oil prices capped its gains, analysts said.
(With PTI inputs)
