Cheer on Dalal Street as Indian stocks extend gains into fifth week

NEW DELHI: Indian stocks extended their bull run for the fifth straight week supported by fresh inflows of foreign investments as well as some moderation in inflation - both in the US and India.

Also, the latest softening of international crude oil prices infused buying sentiments among investors. The total market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies this week touched an all-time high.

Besides, the benchmark index Sensex touched the psychologically crucial 60,000 mark on Wednesday after more than four months to later fall on Friday due to mild profit booking.

During the past five weeks, benchmark indices - Sensex and Nifty - rose nearly 10 per cent on a cumulative basis, thereby recovering largely the entire losses they witnessed so far in 2022.

The latest rally in stocks made Indian investors richer by around Rs 25 trillion. The all-India market capitalization rose from Rs 25,319,892 crore on July 11 to Rs 27,775,698 crore till last updated on Friday, Bombay Stock Exchange data showed.

For the record, till early July, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were consistently selling equities in the Indian markets for the past nine-to-ten months due to various reasons, including tightening of monetary policy in advanced economies, and rising demand for the dollar and high returns from US bonds.

They have pulled out Rs 167,888 crore worth of equities so far in 2022, NSDL data showed. In July, they were, however, the net buyer with a total purchase of equities worth Rs 4,989 crore. So far in August, they bought equities worth another Rs 44,481 crore, data showed.

Commenting on the weekly market trend, Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd, said, "Equity market started the week on a positive note, but correction on Friday erased most of the weekly gains."

"Recent market rally possibly reflects increasing expectation about the peaking of inflation, commodity price correction and decent earnings visibility.

India's July 2022 CPI inflation saw moderation. Further, some decline is being witnessed in oil prices. Q1FY23 results were broadly on expected lines. FPIs flows have started to turn favourable," Chouhan added.