An electronic ticker board displays stock figures outside the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg) Domestic benchmark indices closed at their record highs on Wednesday, with the Sensex just a few points shy of the 50,000-mark. The 30-share index rallied 393.8 points, or 0.8 per cent, to close at 49,792.12. The Nifty50 rallied by 123.85 points, or 0.85 per cent, to close at 14,644.7.
The markets were reacting to the strong cues coming from global markets ahead of Joe Biden being sworn in as the President of the United States. He has laid out a $1.9-trillion stimulus package proposal to boost the US economy.
The markets have continued their strong rally, with the Nifty rising as much as 4.7 per cent in January. Domestic equities have been hitting record highs since last November, which means that the markets have been making fresh records for three straight months.
“As of January 20,2021, closing market capitalization of all BSE listed equities Rs 197,70,572 crore. At Rs 73.03 per USD, Indian market capitalization topped $2.7 trillion first time ever,” tweeted Ashish Chauhan, CEO at the BSE.
Sector-wise, BSE auto, energy, IT and teck indices climbed up to 2.18 per cent, while utilities, FMCG and telecom ended in the red.
In the broader markets, the BSE midcap and smallcap gauges jumped as much as 1.08 per cent.
The rupee gained for the second straight day and closed 12 paise higher at 73.05 against the US dollar. At the interbank forex market, the rupee opened at 73.11, and hit an intra-day high of 73.05 and a low of 73.14.
Equities continued to receive robust foreign portfolio inflows in January at $2.56 billion. Apart from low interest rates and high liquidity, the preference of global investors for emerging markets has also contributed to the robust inflows in the domestic markets.
Automobile companies drove the markets higher on Wednesday, with stocks such as Bajaj Auto and Eicher Motors hitting their 52-week highs.
