The Indian Stock Market Hits New Highs: Sensex and Nifty Reach Milestones

Exciting news for investors today as the Indian stock market witnessed history in the making. Both the BSE Sensex and Nifty50, the country’s benchmark indices, soared to new lifetime highs during intra-day trading on Thursday. The Sensex nearly touched the 80,400 mark, while the Nifty50 surpassed 24,400. By the end of the day, the Sensex closed at 80,049.67, up by 63 points or 0.079%. This marked the first time that the Sensex has crossed the 80,000 milestone. The Nifty50 concluded at 24,302.15, up by 16 points or 0.064%.

The Indian stock market saw fluctuations within a narrow range but ultimately reached new closing records. The day favored the bears with 27 stocks ending in the red and 23 in the green. Top gainers included Tata Motors, HCL Technologies, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharmaceuticals, and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Conversely, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Adani Enterprises, Wipro, and Tech Mahindra were among the top losers.

Of the 16 sectoral indices, eleven closed higher, with Nifty Pharma, Nifty IT, and Nifty Auto leading the pack with gains of up to 1.4%. Nifty Media, Nifty Financial Services, and Nifty Metal were among the underperformers.

Internationally, most major Asian indices ended in the green, except for China’s Shanghai Composite which declined by 0.83%. Japan’s Nikkei 225, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index, and Singapore’s FTSE Straits Times Index saw gains of 0.83%, 0.28%, and 0.71% respectively. In Europe, UK’s FTSE, Germany’s DAX, France’s CAC 40, and Stoxx 600 all closed higher, except for Spain’s IBEX which dipped by 0.25%.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, commented on the day’s market action, mentioning the rise in defensive bets on largecaps like IT and pharma due to a decrease in US inflation pressure. He highlighted the improved QoQ earnings outlook and a significant drop in the US 10-year bond yield as key factors driving market momentum.

The Indian rupee closed slightly stronger against the US dollar, supported by stronger Asian peers and decreased US bond yields. It ended at 83.4925 against the dollar, a slight improvement from the previous close at 83.53, as reported by Reuters.