Sensex hits 57,000 mark; Nifty crosses 17,000 first time

At closing, the Sensex rose 1.16% to a fresh record high of 57,552.39 points while Nifty hit a new high of 17,132.20 points, up 1.19%. Both indices took 19 trading sessions for the latest 1,000 points rally.

“Stock markets set new record highs…confident of an ongoing economic recovery and that the Federal Reserve’s eventual paring back of its stimulus would not knock asset prices anytime soon”, said Deepak Jasani, head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.

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Both Sensex and Nifty rose for the fourth straight month climbing 9.5% and 8.7%, respectively in August, the best monthly gains for the indices since November 2020.

The rupee strengthened past the 73 mark in intraday and closed 73.01 a dollar, up 0.4% from its previous close. In August, the greenback jumped nearly 2%, posting its best gain since May and ranking among Asia’s best performing currencies for the month.

“The festive season has begun in India and Indian equity markets as well. Equity markets are showing strong resilience and climbing all walls of worry that is a clear sign of a strong bull market”, said Santosh Meena, head of research, Swastika Investmart.

The Indian economy is meanwhile seeing a robust recovery from the turmoil caused by the covid second wave. Analysts said the country may not be hit by a potential third wave as badly as was expected previously following progress on vaccinations.

Government data released on Tuesday showed India’s gross domestic product (GDP) jumped by a record 20.1% in the June quarter, bouncing back from a sharp 24.4% contraction in the same period last year. The June quarter GDP performance improved upon increases of 0.5% and 1.6% in the March and December quarters respectively.

Most central banks globally are supporting their economy through easy monetary policy while the US Fed is continuing its dovish stance that is leading to lower US bond yields and weak US dollar which are always considered positive for emerging markets like India, according to analysts.