Sensex marks a new milestone at 70,000

livemint.com:

MUMBAI : Driven by foreign institutional inflows, the Sensex hit the 70,000-mark for the first time on Monday, with 70% of its last 10,000-point sprint taking just 31 days. The feat, reflecting the bullish momentum in the markets, was achieved a session after the Nifty 50 tested the 21,000-mark. Both the Sensex and the Nifty closed a tad off their intraday highs, gaining over one-tenth of a per cent each at 69,928.53 and 20,997.10.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) purchased shares worth a provisional ₹1,261.13 crore on Monday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold a net ₹1,032.92 crore. A revival in FPI inflows since last month after a two-month hiatus has lifted market sentiment, with lenders such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank and State Bank of India being the index’s top volume counters. BSE’s market capitalization rose by $22.3 billion to $4.21 trillion, based on the flat closing rupee rate of 83.39 to the dollar.

However, according to experts, the market might now take a breather, before rising again. FPIs have invested a combined ₹39,500 crore in the two months through December so far, after selling shares worth ₹39,316 crore in the two months prior. DIIs, led by mutual funds, were leading the rally before the FPIs entered the scene.

They net invested ₹20,113 crore since November. So far this calendar year, FPIs have net invested ₹1.35 trillion in Indian stocks, according to National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL). DIIs have net purchased shares worth ₹1.77 trillion, according to Bloomberg data.