Reliance Industries as well as state-owned oil and gas companies, property, automobile and heavyweight financials were at the vanguard of Thursday’s rally that also pushed the broader market to newer heights.
After halting the five-day winning run on Wednesday, the Sensex hit fresh highs on Thursday. The index topped 65,832.98 – beating the previous high of 65,672.97 – to close at 65,785.64, up 339.60 points or 0.52% from the previous close. The Sensex had hit a closing high of 65,479.05 on Tuesday.
The Nifty also beat Tuesday’s 19,434.15 to scale a new peak of 19,512.20. The gauge of top 50 companies by market value closed at 19,497.30, up 98.80 points or 0.51% from the previous close. Nifty’s previous closing high was 19,398.50.
The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms hit a new high of ₹301.7 lakh crore ($3.7 trillion) on Thursday, exchange data showed.
“We see this mature-looking rally in Indian equities to continue,” said Gautam Shah, founder and chief strategist, Goldilocks Premium Research. “There is a disconnect between India and the rest of the world with too many favourable factors, whether fundamental or technical, supporting the current rally.”Shah expects India to outperform other global markets through July and the remaining part of the year and sees the Nifty testing 20,400 by the end of calendar 2023.
FPIs Buy Shares Worth Net ₹2,641 cr
Sectors such as automobiles, textiles, metals, pharmaceuticals and IT should do well, he said.
“Liquidity remains strong and investors should stay put when the tide is in favour by investing in stocks and sectors showing relative strength,” Shah said.
On Thursday, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were net buyers of Indian shares for the seventh session in a row. Overseas funds purchased shares worth a net ₹2,641.05 crore in the cash segment, showed provisional data from the stock exchanges. Since the lows of March 2023, FPIs have been net buyers of shares worth over ₹71,000 crore, helping benchmark indices climb over 15% since.
Selling by domestic institutional investors capped Thursday’s gains. Local investors sold shares worth ₹2,351.66 crore, data showed.
Thursday’s rally marks a crucial point for Indian markets that showed resilience amid the sell-off in global peers. Major indices in the Asia Pacific region saw sharp losses after minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s meeting last month revealed its preparedness for further monetary policy tightening after “skipping” the raising of rates last month.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng led losses in the region, falling over 3%, while indices in mainland China fell 0.5%.
