Stock markets hit new record highs; Sensex breaches 69,000-mark, Nifty eyes 21,000 level

A man walks past the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building, in Mumbai on December 5, 2023. Sensex on Tuesday jumped 169.94 points to fresh peak of 69,035.06 in early trade; Nifty climbed 52.60 points to hit record high of 20,739.40.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty settled at new peaks on December 5, rallying for the sixth straight session amid massive buying in power and utility sector shares.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 431.02 points, or 0.63%, to close at a new record high of 69,296.14. The broader index Nifty also climbed 168.50 points, or 0.81% to hit its lifetime high of 20,855.30.

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms surged by more than ₹2.5 lakh crore to cross ₹350 lakh crore on Tuesday.

Analysts said the positive sentiment was fuelled by unabated inflow of foreign funds on the back of robust sentiment built up over favourable macroeconomic data in the previous week and the results of assembly polls of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh that raised expectations of longer political stability in the country.

Also, investors are expecting the Reserve Bank to maintain the status quo on the interest rate in its bi-monthly monetary policy decision to be announced on Friday, they said.

Among major Sensex movers, Power Grid rose the most by 4.46%, NTPC by 3.89%, SBI by 2.31 per cent and ICICI Bank by 2.28 per cent. Other gainers included Mahindra & Mahindra, Titan and Maruti.

On the other hand, Hindustan Unilever, HCL Tech, Bajaj Finance remained laggards with losses of up to 1.49%.

As many as 20 stocks of the 30-share benchmark closed with gains, while among Nifty firms, 32 shares registered gains.

Foreign institutional investors purchased shares worth ₹2,073.21 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

“The domestic market extended the gains and hit fresh highs despite cautiousness among global peers ahead of key US job data this week. The aura of the state election results and other positive factors like above-expected earnings and GDP growth data are supporting the return of FII flows to the Indian market,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

“The RBI’s monetary policy meeting is expected to be status quo. However, the commentary on economic growth, foodgrain prices and inflation trajectory will be closely watched,” he added.

Meanwhile, in Asian markets, Hang Seng and Nikkei 225 were trading lower by 2.07% and 1.37%, respectively, while China’s Shanghai Composite was trading 1.67 per cent lower.

European markets were mixed. Germany’s DAX gained 1.51% and France’s CAC 40 by 0.69%. London’s FTSE 100 declined 0.22%

The U.S. markets ended on a mixed note with S&P 500 registering a loss of 0.54% on Monday.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude advanced 1% to $78.81 a barrel.

On Monday, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 1,383.93 points, or 2.05%, to close at a lifetime high of 68,865.12. The barometer logged its biggest single-day jump since May 20, 2022. Nifty also climbed 418.90 points, or 2.07%, to hit 20,686.80.