Sensex closes above 66,000-mark for first time; Nifty too settles at record high – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Indian equity indices continued their upward journey on Friday with the BSE benchmark sensex closing above the 66,000-mark for first time.
The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 502.01 points or 0.77 per cent to settle at its new all-time closing high of 66,060.90. The NSE Nifty went up by 150.75 points or 0.78 per cent to end at a new record high of 19,564.50.
The today’s rally in indices was powered by IT stocks on increasing hopes that the US Federal Reserve would pause its rate hiking cycle.
The latest easing of inflation in US has rekindled hoped that the US Federal Reserve could pause rate hikes after July.
The possibly of pause in Fed rate hike spurred over 4.45% jump in Indian IT companies, which get a major share of their revenue from the world’s largest economy, despite tepid earnings reports from TCS, Wipro and HCLTech this week.
“This has been driven by very strong fund inflows, as well as the prospects of end of the rate-hiking cycle in the US,” said Samrat Dasgupta, chief executive officer at Esquire Capital Investment Advisors.
Analysts also attribute the recent resurgence of Indian stocks to sustained buying by foreign investors. Alongside global factors, steady corporate earnings and robust macroeconomic fundamentals have also contributed to the market rally.
In the first half of 2023, foreign institutional investors have shown a net investment of Rs 88,256 crore in equities. This marks a significant turnaround compared to 2022 when these investors sold stocks worth over Rs 1.2 lakh crore.
FPIs bought Indian stocks worth Rs 7,936 crore, Rs 11,631 crore, Rs 43,838 crore, and Rs 47,148 crore in March, April, May, and June, respectively, data showed.
Interestingly, the constant rise in Indian stock indices is maintained even after the retail inflation data for June showed a considerable uptick. Bucking the trend, retail inflation in India rose considerably in June to 4.81 per cent, largely due to a sharp spurt in vegetable prices. The inflation index for rural and urban was 4.72 per cent and 4.96 per cent, respectively.
From the sensex pack, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the biggest gainers.
In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading in the green.
The US markets ended in the positive territory on Thursday.
(With inputs from agencies)