Sensex Crosses 65K, Rises 300 Pts, Nifty Above 19,250
Key benchmark indices opened with firm gains on Monday and scaled new all-time highs for the third straight day tracking strength in global equities. The BSE Sensex rose 300 points to its new high of 65,017 and the NSE Nifty50 jumped 80 points to 19,278.
M&M, Ultratech Cement, HDFC twins, Tata Motors, SBI led gains on the Sensex, rising 1-3 per cent, while JSW Steel was the additional winner on Nifty.
On the flip side, Power Grid, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank and Tech were among the few frontline drags.
The broader markets outperformed benchmarks. The BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices rose up to 0.8 per cent.
Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said: “The ongoing rally in global stock markets is primarily driven by the surprising and unexpected strength of the U.S. economy ( 2% GDP growth in Q1 23), in spite of the savage 500bp rate hike by the Fed. Global markets which had discounted a US recession by mid-2023 have been proved wrong and the markets are now compensating for the excessive pessimistic discounting in 2022.”
“An important point of distinction between the rally in the US and in India is that the US rally is primarily led by 8 tech stocks while the Indian rally is more broad-based. Sustained FPI flows (Rs 47148 crores in June) are the main driver of the rally in India. The recent surge in FPI inflows has been triggered by the recent ‘Sell China, Buy India’ strategy of the FPIs which, in turn, is being influenced hugely by the anti-China attitude/policy evolving in the US and the developed world. Since the strength of the market momentum is high, the rally can continue; but valuations are getting stretched,” he added.
Global Cues
Asian shares edged higher on Monday as demand for tech stocks buoyed Japan’s market, while a data-packed week promises to be pivotal in the outlook for the Chinese economy and US interest rates.
Tokyo stocks opened higher on Monday, after Wall Street rallied on signs of inflation cooling. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 1.30 per cent, or 431.73 points, at 33,620.77 in early trade, while the broader Topix index added 1.04 per cent, or 23.74 points, to 2,312.34.
Wall Street’s three major indexes advanced solidly on Friday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq boasting its biggest first-half gain in 40 years as inflation showed signs of cooling while Apple closed with a $3 trillion market valuation for the first time.
Oil prices slipped in early Asian trade on Monday as global macroeconomic headwinds and possible further interest rate hikes from the U.S. Federal Reserves offset forecasts of tighter supplies amid OPEC+ cuts.