Benchmark indices rose to their highest level in nearly six months led by the financials, with the Sensex briefly surpassing the 63,000-mark before trimming some of its gains.
The Sensex closed at 62,846.38, up 344.69 points or 0.55% from Friday’s close. The Nifty advanced 99.30 points or 0.54% to settle at 18,598.65. Both indices are now within 1.5% of their respective all-time highs witnessed on December 1 last year.
Brokerage ICICIdirect sees the Nifty surge to 18,900 in the months ahead.
“We believe the current context is very similar to that of CY13, CY16 and CY18,” said ICICIdirect in a note to clients. “In each of these identical instances, higher base formation consumed around three to four months and retraced preceding up-move by around 50-60%, followed by new highs over next quarter.”
The Bank Nifty made a new high of 44,483.35, surpassing its previous high of 44,151.80 seen on December 14. The index closed at 44,311.90, up 0.68% from its previous close.
“The Bank Nifty is witnessing a strong breakout and could see further momentum from hereon and the Index can now head towards 45,000 to 46,000 zones in coming sessions,” Sandeep Gupta, senior group VP, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.On Monday, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were net buyers for the sixth straight session. Overseas funds net purchased shares in the cash segment worth 1,758.16 crore while domestic institutions net purchased to the tune of 853.57 crore, according to provisional stock exchange data.
In Asia, Japanese markets surged to their highest level since 1990 on the back of the US debt ceiling deal. Barring Hong Kong, all major indices ended in the green. In Europe, major indices shed early gains and slipped in the red. The UK markets were closed on Monday for a bank holiday. The US markets are closed for Memorial Day. The bill to raise the US’ national debt ceiling will be voted on later this week.
