Bourses get saffron win boost

Value Buying

• Barometer logged its biggest single-day jump since May 20, 2022
• Nifty climbed 418.90 pts, or 2.07% to 20,686.80
• 44 of Nifty-50 stocks closed with gains
• Investors turned positive over future direction as BJP wins in 3 States
• FIIs continued buying

Mumbai: Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty soared more than two per cent to settle at record high levels on Monday, marking the fifth straight day of gains as the BJP’s victory in Assembly polls in three States boosted investor sentiment.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 1,383.93 points, or 2.05 per cent, to close at a lifetime high of 68,865.12 points. The index touched an intra-day record peak of 68,918.22. The barometer logged its biggest single-day jump since May 20, 2022. The broader Nifty also climbed 418.90 points, or 2.07 per cent, to hit its all-time closing high of 20,686.80.

“The benchmark index hits its all-time high following the landslide victory of BJP in elections in three States. It spurred a rally with an anticipation that the country will witness a stable government post the general elections next year,”said Vinod Nair, Head (Research), Geojit Financial Services.

All the sectors have broadly participated in the rally with an optimism that the FIIs will continue its value buying, indicating positive commentary on the global inflation data and stable domestic marcoeconomics, he added.

Among the Sensex firms, ICICI Bank and SBI led the index with the maximum gains of 4.68 per cent and 3.99 per cent, respectively. Other major gainers were Larsen & Toubro, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC Bank. On the other hand, Wipro and Tata Motors defied the trend and traded in negative.

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, said: “Nifty kicked off with a gap up, propelled by BJP’s exceptional performance in three state elections. Technically, the Nifty had already surged past the critical resistance level of 19,850 points. Since then, there has been a significant shift in Put positions towards higher strike prices, foreseeing a robust upward rally in the near future”.

The overall sentiment appears highly bullish, until Nifty fall below 20,400 points. On the higher end, the index might move towards 21,000 points, De said.

On the 50-stock benchmark Nifty, 44 closed with gains. Analysts said BJP’s clear majority in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh State polls strengthened the positive sentiment built up last week following robust macroeconomic numbers and unabated foreign fund inflows. Besides, crude oil prices hovering below $80 per barrel fuelled investors sentiment, they said.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge jumped 1.19 per cent and smallcap index climbed 1.20 per cent. All the sectoral indices recorded gains with oil and gas surging the highest 3.77 per cent followed by bankex rising by 3.56 per cent. While power sector index went up 2.99 per cent, financial services advanced 2.98 per cent and utilities jumped 2.94 per cent.

Foreign institutional investors purchased shares worth Rs1,589.61 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

In Asian markets, Hang Seng fell 1.10 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei 225 was off 0.70 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite finished 0.29 per cent lower. European markets were mixed with Germany’s DAX trading higher by 1.10 per cent and France’ CAC 40 gaining 0.05 per cent. London’s FTSE 100 declined 0.67 per cent. The US markets ended mixed with S&P 500 registering a gain of 0.59 per cent on Friday. Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.65 per cent to $78.37 a barrel. Last week, the BSE benchmark jumped 1,511.15 points or 2.29 per cent, while the Nifty climbed 473.2 points or 2.39 per cent.