Stock markets hit lifetime highs; Sensex nears 69k-mark, Nifty breaches 20,500

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty soared more than 2 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.

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 USD 80 per barrel fuelled investors sentiment, they said.

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. 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. On the 50-stock benchmark Nifty, 44 closed with gains.

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.

"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," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said.

"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," Nair said.

Foreign institutional investors purchased shares worth Rs 1,589.61 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 USD 78.37 a barrel.

Domestic equity markets are expected to take cues from global trends, trading activity of foreign investors, and RBI's interest rate decision to be announced later this week.

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.

The market capitalisation of listed companies on the NSE has surpassed the USD 4 trillion (Rs 334.72 trillion) mark for the first time ever on Friday. The combined market valuation of all listed companies on the BSE reached the USD 4 trillion-milestone for the first time ever on Wednesday (November 29).