Investor wealth rises by Rs 1.76 lakh cr as Sensex, Nifty reach record highs

Driven by a robust show by benchmark indices, investor wealth Monday rose by Rs 1.76 lakh crore as the BSE Sensex rallied 553 points to close at an all-time high level. The BSE 30-share index zoomed 553.42 points or 1.39 per cent to close at 40,267.62. During the trade, it advanced 594.7 points to 40,308.90, its lifetime peak. The broader NSE benchmark also surged 165.75 points, or 1.39 per cent, to settle at 12,088.55. Led by the sharp rally in the equity market, the market capitalisation (m-cap) of BSE-listed companies surged Rs 1,76,402.37 crore to Rs 1,56,14,416.92 crore.

"Today auto, FMCG, IT and realty pulled the market to a new all-time high as they are trying to catch up the rally on the back of expected rate cut by RBI and increase in demand from domestic sectors," CapitalAim Head of Research Romesh Tiwari said. The RBI's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is slated to announce its bi-monthly policy Thursday.

"In its forthcoming policy review on 6 June, 2019, we expect the RBI to cut policy rate by 25 bps. We also see a good chance of the policy stance shifting to accommodative/dovish (from neutral currently)," Edelweiss Research said in a report. "This would be essentially driven by a broad-based slowdown in economic momentum in recent months; modest improvement in liquidity conditions (credit-deposit ratio, corporate bond spreads) but far from normal and inflation dynamics, which remain benign," it said.

From the 30-share pack, 27 stocks closed with gains led by Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, IndusInd Bank and Asian Paints. All BSE sectoral indices ended in the green, with auto, energy, metal, tech and finance rallying up to 1.93 per cent. In the broader market, BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices rose by up to 0.90 per cent.

"Dow Jones closed the previous trading day in red with a 1.4 per cent decline but Indian bourses continued to show strength and opened in green today. Despite the weak macros and domestic factors, Nifty and Sensex crossed milestone levels and rallied up," Samco Securities Head of Research Umesh Mehta said.