MUMBAI: Amid strong foreign fund inflows and a firm trend in Asian markets, domestic equity indices, Sensex and Nifty, soared to new record closing highs on Monday.
The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 384.30 points, or 0.45 per cent, to close at an all-time high of 84,928.61, extending its gains for the third consecutive session. Earlier in the day, it touched a fresh intra-day peak of 84,980.53 after rising 436.22 points, or 0.51 per cent.
Similarly, the NSE Nifty surged 148.10 points, or 0.57 per cent, to end at a record 25,939.05, having also reached a new intra-day high of 25,956 after jumping 165.05 points, or 0.63 per cent.
FIIs drive markets
The market rally follows a significant Rs14,064.05 crore investment by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) on Friday, according to exchange data.
Among the top performers on Sensex were State Bank of India (SBI), Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever, and Bharti Airtel, while laggards included ICICI Bank, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, and HCL Technologies.
Most analysts attribute the bullish momentum to the Federal Reserve’s 50 bps rate cut on September 18th, highlighting the positive market reaction to the Fed chief’s optimistic commentary, which boosted investor sentiment.
In global markets, Shanghai and Seoul closed higher, while Hong Kong ended in the red. Japan’s markets were shut for a holiday. European markets showed a mixed trend, and on Friday, US markets also ended mixed. Meanwhile, Brent crude edged up 0.09 per cent to USD 74.55 a barrel.
