Investors richer by Rs 6 lakh crore in six days as Sensex and Nifty50 scale fresh record highs

Indian equity benchmarks extended gains to fresh record highs on Tuesday, led by gains in financial, FMCG and metal shares, shrugging off mixed moves in world markets as concerns persisted about the potential impact of protests in China against COVID restrictions on global demand.

Both headline indices rose as much as 0.4 percent in the first few minutes of trade after a flat start. The Sensex gained 262.9 points to touch 62,767.7 at the strongest level of the day so far, and the Nifty50 climbed to as high as 18,643.3, up 80.5 points from its previous close.

The Nifty50, the Sensex and the Nifty Bank hit lifetime highs, as the bulls remained in charge of Dalal Street for the sixth day running.

Twenty five stocks in the Nifty50 basket began the day in the green, with Hindalco, Mahindra & Mahindra, Cipla, NTPC and ONGC being the top gainers.

Axis Bank, UPL, Britannia, Larsen & Toubro and Eicher Motors were also among the blue-chip stocks that rose the most.

ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Titan were the biggest boosts for both main indices.

On the other hand, Wipro, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Life, ICICI Bank, TCS, Nestle and SBI, down between 0.3 percent and 0.7 percent, were the top laggards.

At 10 am, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies stood at Rs 286.6 lakh crore, up by Rs 5.7 lakh crore since November 21, according to provisional exchange data.

"The Nifty50's record high is indicative of underlying bullishness in the market. But the global market construct is not very favourable for the rally to continue unabated... High valuations in India is becoming a matter of concern. The troubles in China are a matter of concern but it is too early to judge its impact on the global economy," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Overall market breadth favoured the bulls in early deals, as 1,834 stocks rose and 1,465 fell on BSE.

“The fractious relationship of China with the US, the zero COVID, the fact that European economies have been hit with the energy issues post-Russia-Ukraine (war)... I think a lot of all of those reasons have also helped the relative positioning for India... It has clearly outperformed the North Asian markets," Jitania Kandhari, Head-Macro Research for emerging markets at Morgan Stanley, told CNBC-TV18.

“If India continues to deliver and if oil stays within the $80-90 per bbl range, which we know is the Achilles heel of the Indian economy, India will attract interest back. It is definitely going to be measured because valuations in India relative to emerging markets are at a 95 percent-plus premium. The average premium historically has been 40-45 percent," she added.

The rupee started the day stronger at 81.58 against the US dollar.

Equities in other Asian markets bagged sharp gains on Tuesday, shrugging off overnight losses on Wall Street, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan quoting 1.6 percent higher at the last count. Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 0.2 percent. China's Shanghai Composite was up 1.9 percent.

S&P 500 futures were up 0.2 percent. The three main US indices finished around 1.5 percent lower on Monday.