Mcap of BSE-listed firms hits Rs 400 lakh crore milestone

NEW DELHI: The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies reached an all-time high of Rs 401.10 lakh crore on Monday morning, following a record rally in equities, wherein the 30-share BSE Sensex scaled its lifetime peak.

This is for the first time ever that the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies has gone past the coveted Rs 400 lakh crore mark.

The 30-share BSE benchmark jumped 425.62 points to reach a new record high of 74,673.84 in early trade. During the day, it zoomed 621.08 points or 0.83 per cent to reach a record intra-day high of 74,869.30.

Thanks to the rally in equities, the market capitalisation (mcap) of BSE-listed companies reached an all-time high of Rs 4,01,16,018.89 crore ($4.81 trillion).

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms had hit the Rs 300-lakh-crore mark in July last year. From the Sensex basket, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, Power Grid, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank and JSW Steel were the major gainers. Nestle, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank, Titan, HCL Technologies and Infosys were the laggards.

Sensex, Nifty touch fresh peaks on firm global cues

Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty reached their fresh record highs on Monday, amid optimism in global markets and foreign fund inflows. Buying in index major Reliance Industries also fuelled the rally in equities.

The NSE Nifty climbed 152.60 points or 0.68 per cent to 22,666.30. During the day, it jumped 183.6 points or 0.81 per cent to hit a lifetime high of 22,697.30.

“Global equities posted mostly modest moves as investors prepared for a busy week that includes US inflation data, and European Central Bank interest rate decision,” said Deepak Jasani, head of retail research, HDFC Securities.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.26 per cent while smallcap index dipped 0.06 per cent.

Auto index climbed 1.65 per cent, oil & gas jumped 1.51 per cent, energy (1.24 per cent), consumer discretionary (1.14 per cent), realty (1.21 per cent), metal (1.10 per cent) and utilities (0.90 per cent).

Services, teck and IT were the laggards.

A total of 266 stocks hit their 52-week high while 12 hit their 52-week low on the BSE.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong settled in the positive territory while Shanghai ended lower.

European markets were trading in the positive zone. Wall Street ended with gains on Friday. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,659.27 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.81 per cent to $90.43 a barrel. “The buoyancy in sentiment continued, led by sectoral tailwinds and Q4 earnings growth expectations. The up-move was largely broad-based, with outperformance by auto, reality, oil & gas, and consumer discretionary, while IT was tepid owing to insipid Q4 growth expectations due to a slowdown in spending,” said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services.