Sensex hits 60K for first time; Nifty crosses 17,900
(Sourced from PTI)
Equity benchmark Sensex rallied over 350 points to hit the 60,000-mark for the first time in opening trade on Friday, led by strong gains in index majors Infosys, HDFC Bank, and TCS. Sensex was trading 359.29 points or 0.60 percent higher at its lifetime high of 60,244.65. Similarly, Nifty soared 100.40 points or 0.56 percent to its intra-day record of 17,923.35 in initial deals.
It took a little over 31 years for Sensex to traverse from 1,000 points to the 60,000 level. Sensex was at 1,000 points back on July 25, 1990, and took nearly 25 years before it touched the 30,000 mark on March 4, 2015. Sensex has climbed from the 30,000 level to 60,000 in little over six years, reflecting the overall bullishness in the market.
Infosys was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over two percent, followed by L&T, HCL Tech, Asian Paints, TCS, Tech Mahindra, and HDFC Bank. On the other hand, NTPC, HUL, Bajaj Finance, and Bajaj Finserv were among the laggards.
In the previous session, the 30-share index zoomed 958.03 points or 1.63 percent to end at an all-time high of 59,885.36, and Nifty soared 276.30 points or 1.57 percent to its new closing high of 17,822.95. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs. 357.93 crore on Thursday, as per provisional exchange data.
"Sensex reaching this milestone is quite an achievement in these COVID-19 times and a shot in the arm for bulls that are in total control of this market," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. "The outperformance of India during September so far is stunning with MSCI World Index down 2.13 percent and Nifty up by 4.03 percent," he said.
"The poor performance of the Shanghai Composite due to the regulatory crackdown and the China Plus One policy have again made India an attractive investment destination for the FIIs," the expert further added. Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Seoul, and Hong Kong were trading with losses in the mid-session deals, while Tokyo was positive.
On the other hand, the US equities were trading on a positive note and ended with gains in the overnight session. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.09 percent to $77.32 per barrel.
