The astounding rally comes at a time when the economy is showing recovery signs from the ravaging effects of the Covid-19 pandemic
Our Bureau
Mumbai
The Sensex rose for the sixth straight session and crossed the 61,000-point mark for the first time on Thursday, surging 569 points (nearly 1%) to close at 61,306. The Sensex has recorded a new high every day of the holiday-shortened week, gaining over 1,200 points in four sessions. The broader Nifty, which crossed the 18k milestone on Monday, also hit a new closing high at 18,339, gaining 177 points (1%) on Thursday.
Equity benchmark Sensex rallied over 350 points in opening trade on Thursday to cross the 61,000-mark for the first time, driven by gains in index heavyweights Infosys, HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries amid a positive trend in global markets.
IT stocks joined the rally, which was led by auto, energy, metals and financial sectors this week, bolstered by better than-expected Q2 results for Wipro and Infosys. Depreciation of the rupee, which fell below 75 against the dollar this week, too supported the rally in IT stocks, according to market players. A combination of macroeconomic factors, global cues and strong earnings has supported the bullish momentum on Dalal Street, market analysts said. Investors are also expecting strong sales for carmakers in the festive season, which has led to the auto sector being the top gainer, rising nearly 7%, this week.
Of the 30 Sensex stocks, 22 closed in the green on Thursday, with ITC, HDFC Bank and PowerGrid being the top gainers. The HDFC twins and ICICI Bank alone contributed 364 points to the Sensex’s 569-point sprint on Thursday. Foreign investors were net buyers with Rs 1,596 crore inflows on Thursday, according to NSDL data. “The market continued its bull run as worries about the likely interest rate hike in the US at a later stage and rising bond yields tempered,” said Kotak Securities head (equity research – retail) Shrikant Chouhan.
The market capitalization of the BSE too hit a fresh high at Rs 275 lakh crore.
The astounding rally comes at a time when the economy is showing recovery signs from the ravaging effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Interestingly, Sensex scaled the last two milestones –50,000 and 60,000– in the current year itself. It crossed 50,000 for the first time on January 21, 2021, and the 60,000-mark on September 24, 2021.
Sensex took 20 days to reach the 61,000 mark from the historic 60,000 level. The 30-share index took nearly two months or 62 days to move from the 55,000 mark to the 61,000 mark. On the other hand, the index zoomed from 57,000 mark to 58,000 mark in just three days.
In its journey, crossing the 10K mark took the most time (5,942 sessions) followed by 30K (1,820 sessions), 40K (1,042 sessions) and 50K (415 sessions). The quickest was 50K-60K which was achieved in just 160 sessions.
“Indian equity benchmark SENSEX is trading comfortably over 61,000 and making new highs daily. The rally in the Indian market is special as it was achieved despite a contraction in global economies, energy crisis, worldwide supply chain disruption, inflation threats and muted FII participation,” said Sandeep Matta, Founder, TRADEIT Investment Advisor.
“We are in the initial phase of the exuberant bull run which is well supported by earning improvements, record tax collections, and participation of new investors will surely help Sensex make new highs in upcoming months,” he noted.
Zee questions RIL role in takeover bid
Zee Entertainment MD & CEO Punit Goenka on Thursday said he will continue to take required steps to safeguard the company and its future under the guidance of its board, amid the escalating fight with the media major’s largest shareholder Invesco, which has called for his removal from office. Breaking his silence after almost a month since the boardroom war began, Goenka questioned the intention of Invesco for not making public a proposed deal with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) earlier.
“Why didn’t Invesco make its plans public earlier?… Does good corporate governance only apply to corporates and not their institutional investors?” Goenka said.
Invesco, along with OFI Global China Fund LLC, holds nearly 18% in Zee and has been pressing for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to discuss various issues, including the removal of Goenka and appointment of its nominees on the company’s board.
According to Goenka, the fight with Invesco is to ensure Zee continues to gain growth opportunities and become a stronger player in the media and entertainment sector. Goenka said that he would not let anyone impact the future of Zee or diminish the shareholder value it has been consistently generating over the years. “All I am contending for is to preserve the future of this company, and not my position,” he said.
