Sensex scales 60k after four months

Sensex scales 60k after four months

Indian equities rose for the seventh straight session on Wednesday, with the BSE Sensex reclaiming the 60,000 level after more than four months amid positive global cues and sustained buying by overseas investors.

The BSE Sensex ended the day at 60,260, with a gain of 417 points, while Nifty 50 rose 0.67% at 17,944. The Sensex is now about 2,000 points away from the all-time high of 62,245 it hit in October last year. Midcap and Smallcap indices rose less than the Nifty but advance decline ratio was positive at 1.57:1.

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The benchmark indices have rallied by more than 10% in the last month and are less than 4% away from their lifetime highs amid a softening in commodity prices, FPI buying, healthy monsoon and better-than-expected earnings season, said market watchers.

Global crude oil prices have fallen to 6-month lows. India’s consumer inflation dipped for the third straight month in July, raising expectations that the Reserve Bank of India might slow down the pace and quantum of rate hikes in the coming months.

“While global factors remain hazy, India is seen as a bright spot in today’s challenging times. The market is consistently forming higher high and higher low series formation, indicating continuation of an uptrend in the near future,” said Shrikant Chouhan, head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities.

FPIs have net bought equities to the tune of $4.6 billion, paring the year-to-date net selloff to $23.2 billion. This does not include provisional net purchases of over `2,300 crore on Wednesday. Further FPI flows may be dictated by Fed actions, the dollar index and the movement in crude oil prices.

Experts suggest that the recent upmove has pushed the markets out of the consolidative phase it was since the past few months.

“The buoyancy in the global markets, especially the US, combined with favourable domestic factors viz improving macros, consistent foreign flows, etc, are helping the markets to maintain the prevailing trend,” said Ajit Mishra, VP – Research, Religare Broking.

Asian shares were mostly higher Wednesday as regional markets looked to strong economic signs out of the US and China as drivers of growth. European markets decline ahead of preliminary GDP for Euro Zone, unemployment and post the UK inflation number. UK consumer prices rose by 10.1% in the 12 months to July, more than the 9.8% expected and at a new 40-year high.

Nifty has formed a bullish candle on daily charts that supports the uptrend. “A quick intraday correction is not ruled out if the index trades below 17,850, and below the same it could touch 17,700-17,680 levels. On the flip side, above 17,850 the first upside target for the index would be 18,000 and on further upsurge it could move up to 18,175,” said Chouhan.