Equity markets continued their upward journey on Wednesday with Nifty managing to close with gains of 40 points at 18,857, at a fresh all-time high at close of trade despite weak global cues ahead of the Congressional testimony of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Heavy buying by foreign portfolio and domestic institutional investors lifted stocks across market caps.
The S&P BSE Sensex also managed to hit a record high of 63,588 in morning trade. However, it climbed a shade lower at 63,523.15, a gain of 195.45 points or 0.31 per cent over the previous day’s close. On December 1 last year, the Sensex had hit its record peak of 63,583.07 and the Nifty at 18,887.60.
Puneet Maheshwari, Director, Upstox, said, “The Sensex reaching an all-time high is great news as it truly reflects the buoyant mood in the Indian economy. Strong market performance is a testament to the strength of the macroeconomic factors at play. Strong signals from the international markets as well as favourable domestic factors, such as steady FII inflows, increased risk appetite, an optimistic view on interest rates from the RBI, and better than expected quarterly results can be considered as contributing factors to the stock market’s rise.
The BSE Midcap edged up 0.68 per cent and the smallcap index gained 0.24 per cent. Lakshmi Iyer, CEO-Investment & Strategy, Kotak Investment Advisors Limited, said: “India’s macro headwinds are morphing into tailwinds which are acting as a strong catalyst for market buoyancy.” Markets are also taking a view that interest rates have peaked and the next action will be a rate cut, she said and added: “Also with global cues still not offering growth comfort, India seems to be attracting foreign capital as well.”
Broad-base rally
The current rally is supported by participation from small-cap stocks and mid-caps that helped the market cap of BSE-listed companies to reach record highs.
Foreign portfolio investors bought shares worth ₹4,013.10 crore on Wednesday while domestic institutions were net buyers to the tune of ₹550.36 crore.
Ashwin Ramani, Derivatives & Technical Analyst, SAMCO Securities, said: “Bulls kept pressure on the bears throughout the day. The Open Interest (OI) data of last two trading sessions indicate that there is a short covering happening in index futures. On the derivative front, the long-short ratio of Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) has been above the 50 per cent mark since June 13, indicating that the FPIs hold more long positions relative to short positions.”
Among the stocks that hit all-time high on Wednesday included ABB India, Apollo Tyres, Bharat Dynamics, Britannia Industries, Cholamandalam Investment, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd and Shriram Finance.