Bulls continued to be in charge of Dalal Street with the benchmark Sensex racing past the 31,000-mark on Friday, led by heavyweights like Tata Steel, ITC and Reliance Industries.
The Sensex gained its last 1,000 points in 21 trading sessions.
After opening marginally in the green, the Sensex steadily advanced through the day to touch 31,074.07 points before closing at 31,028.21 points, up 278.18 points, or 0.9%, compared to Thursday’s close, which was also a record high.
Nifty also gained 0.9% on Friday to a record high close of 9,595.10 points.
Tata Steel was the highest gainer among the Sensex stocks, and rose 5.5% on Friday, followed by ITC (3%) and Reliance Industries (2.5%).
Pharmaceutical companies Sun Pharma, Cipla and Lupin were the major losers, closing 2-4% lower.
“Sensex attaining the 31,000-level is one more milestone...with the latest rise of 1,000 points taking just one month and at the same time Sensex rising 20% from its recent bottom in just five months,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities. “We seem to be headed higher with or without some intermittent corrections thrown in,” Mr. Jasani said.
The BSE’s 30-stock benchmark has gained 25% in the last three years since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s NDA government took office in May 2014. Its performance was better than the first three years of UPA-II government when the Sensex rose by 15.4%. The full five years of UPA-II saw the benchmark index swelling 78%.
Analysts said while global factors were in good shape, local factors were driving the Indian markets.
The Sensex gained more than 16% in 2017 mainly on the back of Government’s reform measures like introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) which is expected to be rolled out from July, and stress asset resolution in the banking sector, among others. The Centre has recently given more power to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to resolve bad loan problem of banks in quick time.
The market expects stocks to continue its bull run.
“The week ended on a strong note and we feel it’ll continue next week as well. Any dip in between should be considered as buying opportunity in index majors. However, mid-cap and small-cap counters should be dealt with caution as they may consolidate further prior to any significant rebound,” said Jayant Manglik, President, Retail Distribution, Religare Securities.
The rupee also strengthened against the dollar on Friday which closed the day at 64.44 — its highest closing since 17 May — as compared to 64.61 on Thursday.
