Sensex creates history, closes above 50,000-mark for first time

Mumbai, February 3

The BSE Sensex closed above the historic 50,000-mark for the first time ever on Wednesday as the post-Budget euphoria continued for the third straight session amid a spurt in buying by foreign funds and positive global cues.

Banking, finance and pharma counters hogged the limelight, while cement and FMCG stocks succumbed to profit-taking. After touching a record intra-day high of 50,526.39, the BSE benchmark ended at 50,255.75, up 458.03 points.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty surged 142.10 points to its fresh closing record of 14,789.95. It touched an all-time high of 14,868.85 during the day.

IndusInd Bank topped the Sensex gainers’ chart, zooming 7.65%, followed by PowerGrid, Dr Reddy’s, Sun Pharma, NTPC and Axis Bank.

On the other hand, UltraTech Cement, Maruti, ITC, Kotak Bank, Asian Paints, Nestle India and TCS were among the losers, slipping up to 0.90%.

“Domestic equities continued to remain in the grip of bulls and broader indices made fresh record highs today,” said Binod Modi, Head Strategy at Reliance Securities.

Optimism created after the announcement of bold measures in the Union Budget continued to attract investors. Favourable global cues also supported the market rally. Notably, market cap of Indian market is just fraction away from surpassing Rs 200 trillion levels, he added.

“Given sharp increase in capital expenditure along with a number of reforms to give impetus to investment activities, momentum in corporate earnings is expected to sustain in subsequent quarters. Further, higher fiscal stimulus in the US, persistent soft monetary policy stance of global bankers and weak dollar should continue to act as key tailwinds for FPIs flows.

“In the near term, monetary policy outcome will be a key focus area for market, which is broadly expected to remain favourable,” he noted. — PTI

Bull run continues for third day

• The post-Budget euphoria continued for the third straight session amid a spurt in buying by foreign funds and positive global cues
• Banking, finance and pharma stocks hogged the limelight, while cement and FMCG scrips succumbed to profit-taking
• After touching a record intra-day high of 50,526.39, the Sensex ended at 50,255.75, up 458.03 points
• Similarly, the Nifty surged 142.10 points to its fresh closing record of 14,789.95