Sensex hits record high of 63,588.31 in early trade, after 7 months

Benchmark indices climbed in early trade on Wednesday (June 21), with the 30-share BSE Sensex hitting its lifetime high of 63,588.31, after a nearly seven months, amid buying in index majors HDFC twins and Reliance Industries.

The BSE Sensex rose 146 points to 63,473.70 in early trade. The NSE Nifty advanced 37 points to 18,853.70.

The BSE benchmark later jumped 260.61 points to reach its all-time peak of 63,588.31. It was on December 1 last year that the Sensex hit its intra-day record peak of 63,583.07.

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From the Sensex pack, Power Grid, UltraTech Cement, HDFC Bank, Wipro, HDFC, Hindustan Unilever, Larsen & Toubro, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, Titan, Tata Consultancy Services and Reliance Industries were the major gainers.

The laggards included Tata Steel, NTPC, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank and Asian Paints.

Asian markets

In Asian markets, Tokyo quoted in the green while Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading lower.

The US markets ended lower on Tuesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.26 per cent to USD 76.09 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,942.62 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

“It is important to understand that this is a global rally with most markets – the US, Euro Zone, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan – hovering around 52-week highs… Globally markets are bullish even when global growth is sluggish.

“The reason for this bullish trend is that the US recession, which markets had discounted last year, didn’t happen and there are indications that the US might avoid a recession. So, markets are correcting the wrong discounting of last year,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

The BSE benchmark settled higher by 159.40 points or 0.25 per cent at 63,327.70 on Tuesday. The Nifty advanced 61.25 points or 0.33 per cent to end at 18,816.70.

“All eyes will be on the US Federal Reserve Chairman’s testimony before the US Congress later today,” said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd.

(With agency inputs)