Kolkata (West Bengal): Nifty 50 hit a record high of 22,993.60 while Sensex hit a record high of 75,499.91 on May 23. Nifty 50 and Sensex surged 1.7 per cent to hit fresh all-time highs on May 23, boosted by India Inc's in-line Q4 earnings, RBI's record dividend payout, and increasing election certainty.
The shares of banking heavyweights including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank emerged among the top contributors to the gains in the Sensex and the Nifty 50 index following a significant fall in India's 10-year bond yields after the RBI's mega dividend payout to the government.
The overall market capitalisation of the firms listed on BSE rose to nearly Rs 420 lakh crore from Rs 416 lakh crore in the previous session, making investors richer by about Rs 4 lakh crore in a day.
As many as 222 stocks, including Bharti Airtel, Mahindra and Mahindra, Ashok Leyland, Eicher Motors, Tata Steel, Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports, hit their fresh 52-week highs in intraday trade on BSE.
"Nifty ended at a record high level on May 23 after the RBI announced a mega dividend to the government on the previous evening. At close, Nifty was up 1.64 per cent or 369.9 points at 22967.7. Cash market volumes on the NSE rose to Rs.1.32 lakh crore,” said Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities.
Broad market indices rose less than the Nifty as buying remained concentrated in frontline stocks and even as the advance-decline ratio remained negative at 0.83:1. Global stocks rose on Thursday after strong forecasts from AI darling Nvidia lifted global chipmakers, while surveys pointing to improving business activity in the eurozone prompted traders to scale back bets of interest rate cuts this year,” Jasani added.
Traders ignored the worries arising from China's military drills around Taiwan and as a trade war between China and the U.S. appeared to be heating up, after President Joe Biden's administration said new tariffs on about $18 billion worth of Chinese imports would be imposed from August 1 targeted at key upcoming Chinese sectors, including electric vehicles and semiconductors.
"Nifty rose the most in percentage terms in almost 6 months on May 23. It formed a long bull candle. It could now head towards 23175 on the upside while 22794 could offer support on corrections in the near term," said Nilanjan Dey, director of Wishlist Capital.
"The Nifty hitting a new record is the market's message of political stability after the elections. The rally is healthy since it is led by fairly valued large-caps," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
"The biggest positive for the market is the record ₹2.11 lakh crores dividend from the RBI to the government, which will give an additional 0.3 per cent of GDP fiscal room for the government. This means the government can reduce its fiscal deficit and step up infrastructure spending," said Vijayakumar.
