Equity benchmarks rose early on Wednesday, extending gains from previous session, with the Sensex index breaching the 60,000 level, tracking a fall in oil prices that dropped to their lowest level since mid-February amid concerns over global growth outlook.
Indian stocks opened higher as a softening inflation print steered expectation of slowing pace of interest rate hikes, with sentiment boosted by that fall in crude prices and strength in Asia from global markets.
The 30-share BSE benchmark index was trading 141.62 points higher at 59,983.83 in early deals. Soon, it jumped to 60,008.11 points, higher by 165.9 points.
The broader NSE Nifty climbed 48.25 points to 17,873.50 points.
From the Sensex pack, NTPC, Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, Reliance Industries and Bajaj Finserv were the biggest gainers.
at 60,149 points, up 0.5 per cent from Tuesday’s closing. Sensex last touched 60,000 mark in early April.
The latest bull run in Indian stocks has been continuing for the past five weeks on a trot.
Till early July, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) were consistently selling equities in the Indian markets for the past nine-to-ten months due to various reasons, including tightening of monetary policy in advanced economies, rising demand for the dollar and high returns from US bonds. They have pulled out Rs 202,250 crore so far in 2022, NSDL data showed.
Sensex
In July, they were, however, the net buyer with a total purchase of equities worth Rs 4,989 crore. So far in August, they bought equities worth another Rs 22,453 crore, data showed.
“Declining US inflation, confidence that the Fed need not have to aggressively raise rates and the increasing probability of a soft landing of the US economy are supporting this rally. In India, steadily declining inflation, strong growth momentum in the economy and FIIs turning consistent buyers are driving the rally,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Meanwhile, benchmark indices – Sensex and Nifty – rose nearly 10-11 per cent during the ongoing rally on a cumulative basis, thereby recovering largely the entire losses they witnessed so far in 2022.
Notably, the ongoing rally has made Indian stocks investors richer by around Rs 25 trillion. The all-India market capitalization rose from Rs 25,319,892 crore on July 11 to Rs 27,792,290 till last updated on Tuesday
