Share market settle at fresh lifetime highs; Nifty stares at 20k

Mumbai: Extending winning momentum to the sixth day, equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty scaled fresh record high levels on Thursday, driven by unabated foreign capital inflows and intense buying in banking and FMCG stocks.

A recovery in the rupee added to the momentum, forex traders said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 474.46 points or 0.71 per cent to settle at its fresh all-time closing high of 67,571.90.

The benchmark recovered all its early lost ground during the afternoon trade. During the day, it rallied 521.73 points or 0.77 per cent to hit its lifetime intra-day peak of 67,619.17.

The NSE Nifty is on the verge of breaching the psychologically crucial 20,000 mark and closed a few points shy of the level.

Rising for the sixth straight session, the NSE flagship climbed 146 points or 0.74 per cent to end at its record closing high of 19,979.15. During the session, it soared 158.7 points or 0.80 per cent to reach its fresh record high of 19,991.85.

In the last six sessions, the BSE benchmark has jumped 2,178 points or 3.33 per cent, and the Nifty rallied 594.85 points or 3.06 per cent.

"Unlocking of value by heavyweights (like RIL & ITC) is apprising the main indices. The anticipation of good Q1 results from Banks, is providing an extra boost to drive to new highs. Mixed cues from global peers are not disturbing the mood of the domestic market as FIIs inflows stay put to the prospects of the Indian economy," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said.

ITC was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, rising nearly 3 per cent, followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, Maruti, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, Hindustan Unilever and JSW Steel.

On the other hand, Infosys, UltraTech Cement, HCL Technologies, Bajaj Finserv, Larsen & Toubro, Titan, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro were the laggards.

Market sentiment remains upbeat on robust foreign flows and a healthy macroeconomic outlook. Expectations of the end of the monetary tightening cycle in the US after the July policy meeting are also contributing towards higher foreign flows into the Indian bourse, Devarsh Vakil, Deputy Head - Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said.

The major US indices continue rallying behind an earnings season that has brought stronger-than-expected results so far, Vakil added.

NSE and BSE conducted a special pre-open session for Reliance Industries Ltd on Thursday on account of the demerger of its financial services business Reliance Strategic Investments Ltd.

Jio Financial Services Ltd (JFSL), the demerged financial services unit of Reliance Industries Ltd, was valued at about USD 21 billion, ahead of Adani group firms, Coal India and Indian Oil (IOC).

A total of 1,748 stocks advanced while 1,632 declined and 132 remained unchanged on BSE.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge climbed 0.19 per cent and the midcap index went up marginally by 0.05 per cent.

Among the indices, FMCG rallied 1.45 per cent, bankex jumped 1.40 per cent, healthcare (1.05 per cent), financial services (0.90 per cent) and energy (0.57 per cent).

IT declined by 0.81 per cent, teck (0.53 per cent), power (0.43 per cent), consumer durables (0.37 per cent) and capital goods (0.29 per cent).

"The market is witnessing frenzied buying support from foreign investors, and it's just a matter of time that the benchmark Nifty will top the 20K mark. Such has been the rally that some of the mild negative flows too are getting discounted in this bull run," Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd, said.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their buying activity as they bought equities worth Rs 1,165.47 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

The rupee gained 12 paise to close at 81.96 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended lower.

European markets were trading in the green. The US markets ended in positive territory on Wednesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.13 per cent to USD 79.56 a barrel.

"Nifty should most likely cross the 20k mark on Friday, given the ongoing momentum and clear strength visible in the market. Strong heavy weights results are likely to further influence the market direction in the near term.

"Investors eagerly await Reliance Q1 results, which will be announced Friday, and management commentaries on the same along with further details on Jio's financial listing," Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said.