In a first, Nifty surges past 8,000; Sensex at new peak

Our Bureau Updated - March 12, 2018 at 09:31 PM.

sensex

For the first time ever, the Nifty breached the 8,000-mark on Monday even as the BSE Sensex hit a new peak on the back of encouraging economic growth data for the April-June quarter.

Investor wealth soared by ₹1 lakh crore as the BSE market capitalisation surged to ₹93.81 lakh crore (₹92.59 lakh crore at close on Thursday). On Friday, Government data put GDP growth at a faster-than-expected 5.7 per cent in the first quarter, rekindling confidence in the economy.

Today, the Nifty edged up 0.92 per cent to close at 8,027.7, after hitting an intra-day high of 8,035. The Sensex jumped 0.86 per cent to 26,867.55. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices moved up 1.57 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively. As many as 92 stocks hit their life-time peaks while close to 200 touched year highs on the BSE, making the rally more broad-based.

Counters such as Blue Dart Express, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Hero MotoCorp, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, M&M, Maruti Suzuki, Tech Mahindra and YES Bank scaled new peaks. Foreign investors, the key drivers of the rally, bought shares worth ₹ 554 crore on Monday, while domestic funds offloaded shares worth almost the same amount.

Arun Kejriwal of KRIS Securities said crossing the 8,000-mark is more psychological but it is a feel-good factor. The Nifty has returned 45 per cent in a year on hopes of a turnaround as the economy has bottomed out and inflation has peaked out, he said.

Things will take-off from here as the Government is committed to reforms, which will start reflecting in corporates' performance, he added. However, if one were to believe that the market will once again return 45 per cent in the next one year, it will be “absolutely stupid,” he said.

Published on September 1, 2014 17:17