The Indian benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty hit fresh record highs on Monday as Dalal Street welcomed the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party’s clean sweep in the Hindi heartland. The 30-share Sensex rallied as much as 1,106 points in early trade to touch a new high of 68,588, while the broader Nifty50 surged 335 points to 20,602 marks as investors celebrated BJP’s big gains in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and retention of power in Madhya Pradesh.
Last Friday, Sensex and Nifty clocked fresh highs ahead of the assembly election result, driven by firm global cues and strong foreign institutional investor (FII) flows. Foreign investors, who were net sellers in September and October, turned net buyers in November with a net investment of $640 million, as per NSDL data.
Early today, the equity market made a roaring start, extending positive momentum for the fifth consecutive session. The BSE Sensex opened 954 points higher at 68,435, while the NSE Nifty began the day with 334 points gains.
In line with the benchmark indices, the BSE midcap and smallcap indices also touched their new highs. The midcap index rose 537 points to 35,124 levels, while the smallcap index jumped 656 points to 41,222 marks.
In the 30-share Sensex pack, all stocks were flashing in green, barring Maruti, HCL Tech, Nestle, and Sun Pharma, led by Larsen & Toubro, State Bank of India, NTPC, ICICI Bank, and Bharti Airtel, which gained in the range of 2-3%.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) were up 0.3%, while HDFC Bank and Infosys gained 1.9% and 1%, respectively.
On the sectoral front, all indices were trading in positive terrain, while oil and gas and PSU space gained the most. The BSE oil&gas index soared 3.8%, with state-owned oil companies HPCL, GAIL (India), Indian Oil, and BPCL rising up to 9%. Among private players, Adani Total Gas jumped over 4%, while RIL was up marginally by 0.3%.
According to V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, the state election results have turned out to be a big event which can trigger renewed optimism and further rally in the market. “The stock market likes political stability and a reform-oriented, market-friendly government. From the market perspective, the results were better-than-expected. The market has already partly discounted a BJP victory with a 500-point rally during the last 4 sessions. But the mood is so exuberant that the rally will continue. The global backdrop also is favourable with the U.S. 10-year bond yield declining to 4.23%.”
“A board-based rally across the sectors is in the offing. A restraining factor will be the valuations which are high and will get stretched further with the rally gaining momentum. In the near-term the market will ignore fundamentals and move up but soon high valuations will trigger some selling," he adds.
Sunil Nyati, Managing Director of Swastika Investmart, says that there is a good chance that “Nifty may hit the auspicious mark of 21,000 in December itself, while another 1000–2000 point rally can't be ruled out in the run-up to the general election”.
“The Indian stock market has started factoring in an edge to the BJP in state elections, but 3-1 was not discounted; therefore, the market is likely to celebrate with big gains. The market has already started the pre-election rally for May 2024 from mid-November, and now this rally will get pace after the outcome of state elections,” Nyati says.
“Now two factors will play out FOMO and TINA. The feeling of missing out (FOMO) and the fact that there is no alternative (TINA). FIIs are still on the sidelines, and now they have FOMO feelings. After the state election outcome and surprising strong GDP numbers, it is clear that there is no alternative to India in terms of political stability and economic growth. Now these two factors have created a canvas for a pre-election rally,” he further says.
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