Sensex crosses 60K mark in opening trade, Infosys top gainer

Equity benchmark BSE Sensex rallied over 350 points to cross the 60,000-mark for the first time in opening trade on Friday.

The 30-share Sensex was trading 359.29 points or 0.60 percent higher at its lifetime high of 60,244.65. Similarly, Nifty soared 100.40 points or 0.56 percent to its intra-day record of 17,923.35 in initial deals.

It took little over 31 years for the Sensex to traverse from 1,000 points to the historic 60,000 level.

The benchmark index was at 1,000 points back on July 25, 1990, and it took nearly 25 years before it touched the 30,000 mark on March 4, 2015.

The Sensex has climbed from the 30,000 level to 60,000 in little over six years, reflecting the overall bullishness in the market.

Infosys was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over two percent, followed by L&T, HCL Tech, Asian Paints, TCS, Tech Mahindra, and HDFC Bank.

Also read: What’s fuelling the Sensex rally to record highs? What will keep it there?

On the other hand, NTPC, HUL, Bajaj Finance, and Bajaj Finserv were among the laggards.

In the previous session, the 30-share index zoomed 958.03 points or 1.63 percent to end at an all-time high of 59,885.36, and Nifty soared 276.30 points or 1.57 percent to its new closing high of 17,822.95.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth ₹357.93 crore on Thursday, as per provisional exchange data.

“Sensex has hit the 60,000-mark today. Reaching this milestone is quite an achievement in these COVID times and a shot in the arm for bulls that are in total control of this market,” said V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

“The outperformance of India during September so far is stunning with MSCI World Index down 2.13 percent and Nifty up by 4.03 percent,” Vijayakumar said, adding that the poor performance of the Shanghai Composite due to regulatory crackdown, and the China Plus One policy have again made India an attractive investment destination for FIIs.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Seoul and Hong Kong were trading with losses in mid-session deals, while Tokyo was positive.

US equities ended with gains in the overnight session. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.09 percent to $77.32 per barrel.

(With inputs from Agencies)