Sensex Ends Above 60,000, Nifty Above 17,850

The Indian equity markets marked a historic day as the Sensex crossed a milestone of 60,000 in the opening deals and has managed to jump 10000 points in just eight months. However, the indices pared some of its early gains and the BSE Sensex closed up 163.11 points at 60,048.47, while the Nifty-50 was up 30.25 points at 17,853.20 at market closing.

Experts across the country are very bullish on the future outlook of the Indian markets and expect many positive surprises as the country is on a growth trajectory and will continue to dominate more global peers in the coming years.

Naveen Kulkarni, Chief Investment Officer, Axis Securities, said, "We could see many more positive surprises from the market in the next one-two years, as we are entering into a positive upcycle of earnings trajectory."

Furthermore, the upcoming earnings session is expected to uplift the sentiment more as the country continues to recover broadly on the economic front. "A fully functional economy over the upcoming festival season and the sustenance of earnings momentum in Q2 FY22 are the near-term triggers for the market," Kulkarni added.

The pace of vaccination in the country and decline in active Covid-19 cases is also a big positive for the near term, experts pointed out.

Motilal Oswal, MD & CEO, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, commenting on the rally, said "The rally in domestic market is driven by positive global cues, strong inflows by FIIs/DIIs, good corporate earnings, falling Covid-19 cases, upbeat corporate commentaries and low cost of capital."

In the 30-share pack Sensex, 12 shares advanced while 18 ended in the red. Shares of Asian Paints, M&M, HCL Tech, and HDFC Bank were the top gainers in the index as they advanced between 2-4 per cent each. However, on the flipside, Tata Steel and SBI dipped three and two per cent, respectively.

Among the sectors, the Auto, IT, Banks and Realty sectors saw gains, while all other sectors ended in the red, mainly due to profit booking from higher levels in the stocks. The Nifty Realty pack was the top performer among all others as the index gained over two per cent led by shares of Oberoi Realty(+10.73 per cent) and Phoenix Mills (+2.84 per cent).

However, amid the headline indices being at record highs, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices fell 1.16 and 0.30 per cent, respectively. The Midcap space was mainly dragged by stocks of Apollo Hospital (-7.35 per cent), Cummins(-3.22 per cent), and United Breweries (-3.19 per cent).

In the weekly session ended today, the key index Nifty-50 has gained about 1.5 per cent on the back of strong FII flows and positive action from mainly IT stocks as the Nifty IT index jumped over four per cent in the same period. The BSE Sensex has as much as 1.75 per cent or added more than 1000 points.

Overall in the markets today, around 1286 shares advanced, 1894 shares declined, and 152 shares were unchanged.