Sensex Continues Record Run To 80,000—Journey Of Last 10,000 Points In Charts

Indian stock indices continued their record run, with the benchmarks scaling fresh highs led by banking heavyweight HDFC Bank Ltd. on its likely rise in the MSCI Emerging Market Index.

The S&P BSE Sensex breached the 80,000 mark for the first time, and the NSE Nifty 50 topped the 24,300 level during early trade on Wednesday. After posting the best monthly gains for this calendar year in June, the benchmarks continued their third day of a record-setting streak.

Sensex's 10,000-point journey from the 70,000 mark on Dec. 11, 2023, took 139 sessions, with realty and auto stocks leading the gains. Market capitalisation of the 30 Sensex companies rose about 15% to Rs 156.7 lakh crore during this period.

Sensex crossing the 80,000 mark is a big achievement for the Indian stock market and has given nine-time returns in the last 16 years, said Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research, Kotak Securities. "Sixteen years ago, it was at 8,800 on the day when Lehman, the leading bank in the US markets, crashed. Nine times returns in 16 years."

The benchmark's 10,000-point journey gives confidence that equity markets did perform well in the long run, Chouhan said. "Based on the current domestic macros, our advice is to continue investing systematically in equities with a long-term perspective."

During this journey, Mahindra and Mahindra rose the most giving a return over nearly 75%. The stocks of Power Grid Corp., Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd., and Bharti Airtel Ltd. rose over 40% in the last 139 sessions.

Asian Paints Ltd., Bajaj Finserv Ltd., Titan Co., ITC Ltd. and IndusInd Bank Ltd. were the top losers in the rally.

During the last 10,000 points rally, realty and auto surged the most among sectors at 49% and 40%, respectively. Media stocks were the only loser in the last 139 sessions.

The market will reward wherever good news emerges, and June 4 was just a blip in the up trend, according to the stock market expert, CK Narayan. The current environment is very stock-specific, with the markets witnessing very quick sector rotation, he said. "I see no reason to change my expectation that the second half of the year will be anything but an upward bias."

At 12:38 p.m., the NSE Nifty 50 was trading 156 points, or 0.65%, higher at 24,277 and the S&P BSE Sensex gained 505 points, or 0.64%, to trade at 79,949.

The rally on Wednesday was led by banking and financial stocks as the banking gauge—Nifty Bank—touched a new high driven by the rally in Federal Bank Ltd. and HDFC Bank.

Shares of HDFC Bank rose nearly 4% to an all-time high after the fall in foreign institutional investors' holdings paved the way for an increase in the lender's weight in the MSCI Emerging Market Index.