Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai
Mumbai, Nov 28: In a landmark moment for Dalal Street, the Sensex crossed the 86,000 mark for the first time ever on Thursday morning, powered by a global rally, strong domestic liquidity, and rising expectations of rate cuts in both India and the US. The index touched an intraday high of 86,056, before profit-booking pared gains. It finally closed at 85,720, up 111 points.
The Nifty 50 too scaled a new lifetime high at 26,310, before settling at 26,216, maintaining record-closing levels. Both headline indices have climbed to fresh peaks after 14 months.
Ajay Menon, MD & CEO (Wealth Management) at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said that growing confidence in upcoming rate cuts by the RBI and the US Federal Reserve has boosted visibility for rate-sensitive sectors and could revive foreign fund inflows. Early signs of corporate earnings recovery, support from GST rationalisation, improving rural demand, and optimism over a possible US–India trade agreement have further strengthened market sentiment, he added.
While the benchmarks hit new highs, the broader market remained subdued. Midcap and smallcap indices closed in the red, dragging overall market wealth slightly lower. BSE’s market capitalisation eased from ?474.9 lakh crore on Wednesday to ?474.3 lakh crore.
Among Sensex stocks, the advance-decline ratio remained evenly placed at 15 gainers and 15 losers. In the broader BSE universe, however, losers outnumbered gainers — 2,220 declines versus 1,936 advances.
The rally that propelled the Sensex past 86k began in October, when the index hovered around 80,200. Foreign investors turned net buyers that month after three months of outflows, but the latest leg of the surge has largely been driven by robust domestic fund flows, especially through equity SIPs, even as the rupee hit record lows and FIIs posted marginal outflows.
Investors are now keeping a close watch on the September-quarter GDP numbers to be announced on Friday, along with key triggers such as the much-talked-about US–India trade deal and the RBI policy review on December 5.