The Sensex surpassed 81,000 points for the first time on Thursday, hitting yet another milestone this year, as buying in defensive sectors helped the 30-stock index rally 1,000 points in just 10 days. The top five Sensex gainers in the last 10 sessions were ITC, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and HCL Technologies.
The Sensex and Nifty rose 0.8% each on Thursday to close at record high levels of 81,343.46 points and 24,800.85 points, respectively. Intraday, Sensex hit 81,522.55 points and the Nifty hit 24,837.75 points.
Chokkalingam G, founder of Equinomics Research said it shows investors’ preference for defensives when the market is on peak.
The uptick in IT stocks has also been fuelled by better-than-expected earnings growth in the latest quarter, and hopes that the worst could be behind for the sector amid expectations of rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve, market participants said.
With Thursday’s gains, the benchmark indices have now risen to record highs for the fourth consecutive session. Experts do not expect the momentum to slow down, especially in the large-caps.
“There is room for further upside in Sensex and Nifty because with GDP growth of 7%, earnings can grow at 10-12% in FY25 and FY26, which would justify the valuations,” Chokkalingam said.
While the Sensex took 10 days to move from 80,000 points to 81,000 points, it took just 4 days for the previous 1,000-point rally. So far this year, the key index has risen 12.6%, rising from around 72,000 points level.
On Thursday, the push came from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) as they bought shares worth Rs 5,483.63 crores, as per the provisional data. Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors net sold shares worth Rs 2,904.25 crores.
Market veteran Kenneth Andrade recommended investors to align with growth businesses as he sees a “goldilocks period” for the economy and corporate profitability.
“Investors should align with growth businesses rather than seeking undervalued opportunities, which are scarce,” Andrade, founder and chief investment officer of Oldbridge Capital Management, said in a note.
“Broadly we do not see major correction in the market till the announcement of the Budget. So, any dip can be used to buy, unless the Nifty falls to around 24,600 points level. If that happens, investors should look to book profits as the Nifty has earlier spent a lot of time around this level and we have seen the trend of profit booking here,” said Shrikant Chouhan, executive vice president and head of equity research at Kotak Securities.
While the benchmark indices rose on Thursday, the broader market indices ended lower. The BSE Midcap index fell 1%, while the BSE Smallcap indices ended 1.2% lower. Overall, 2,500 stocks ended lower on the BSE, as against 1,424 gainers.
Investors are likely looking to take positions in large-caps, particularly defensives, and trim their exposure in the broader market ahead of the Budget next week, market participants said.
Chokkalingam raised concerns over the continued rally in the broader market, and highlighted that, unlike the trend being seen this time around, small-caps and mid-caps have not outperformed benchmarks for more than 2-3 years.