Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty bounced back from lower openings to hit fresh record highs on Thursday. The S&P BSE Sensex surged by 0.43 percent, adding 340 points to reach 79,013.76. Similarly, NSE’s Nifty50 climbed 0.40 percent or 98 points, reaching 23,966.40.
On the BSE, UltraTech Cement and JSW Steel emerged as top gainers, while HCLTech and Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) were among the major laggards. The NSE saw UltraTech Cement and Grasim Industries leading the gains, with M&M and HCLTech as the top losers.
Broader indices also saw significant activity, with Nifty Midcap rallying by 0.63 percent and SmallCap trading 0.30 percent higher. Sector-wise, Nifty Metal led the gains, up by 0.69 percent, followed by Private Bank (up 0.53 percent) and Media (up 0.50 percent).
V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, commented, “The market will remain bullish in the near-term despite valuation concerns. The ongoing momentum has the potential to take the Sensex to 80,000 levels. A healthy trend is that the up move is being led by fundamentally strong large caps in sectors like banking and telecom. With RIL joining the bull bandwagon, the rally has the strength to continue. However, the rise in U.S. bond yield might trigger some large FII selling in the coming days, potentially slowing the rally. As long as massive domestic liquidity support continues, there are no potential triggers for a sharp correction in the market. PSU banks look attractive from a valuation perspective and have the potential to react positively to good Q1 results.”
In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong were trading lower. Meanwhile, U.S. markets ended positively on Wednesday. FIIs offloaded equities worth Rs 3,535.43 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data. Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined by 0.21 percent to USD 85.07 a barrel.
On Wednesday, the BSE benchmark Sensex climbed 620.73 points or 0.80 percent to settle at a new closing peak of 78,674.25, after rallying 705.88 points or 0.90 percent during the day to hit a fresh all-time high of 78,759.40. The Nifty also recorded a gain of 147.50 points or 0.62 percent to settle at a record closing peak of 23,868.80. Intra-day, it surged 168.6 points or 0.71 percent to hit a fresh lifetime high of 23,889.90.
The three-day rally has increased investors’ wealth by Rs 2.53 lakh crore, reflecting a strong market sentiment despite global economic uncertainties.
