Dalal Street parties as Nifty sets new benchmark
equity indices soared to record closing levels on Monday with the Nifty crossing 20,000 for the first time, albeit briefly, as investors and traders continued to ride the recent bullish wave that has catapulted various stocks to multi-year highs. All bets are still on the stock market extending its winning run with domestic flows showing no signs of ebbing.
But analysts are turning wary as the brisk pace of the run-up in stocks has made market valuations pricey.
NSE's Nifty gained 176.40 points, or 0.89%, to end at 19,996.35. The index touched the 20,000 mark briefly before rolling back below this psychological level.
BSE's Sensex rose 528.17 points, or 0.79%, to close at 67,127.08.
With Monday's gains, the market value of all listed companies hit an all-time high of ₹324 lakh crore.
Analysts expect the Nifty to advance by another 2-3 percentage points to as high as 20,500 in September as technical indicators and flows are still supporting the prospects of more upsides. «Both domestic and foreign investors are pumping money into a market which is tight and driven by the same set of stocks,» said Raamdeo Agrawal, chairman, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
«That might be an uncomfortable situation, but the good news is that corporate earnings remain stable.»
Mid- and small-cap indices too ended at all-time highs on Monday as the rally in shares of PSUs and power companies led by a surfeit of domestic money helped extend the bullish streak. The Nifty Midcap 150 jumped 1.1% and the Nifty Small-cap 250 advanced 1%.
