By Bharath Rajeswaran
BENGALURU (Reuters) – India’s blue-chip Nifty 50 hit a record high on Wednesday after struggling to breach the level for several sessions, lifted by gains in Adani group stocks and heavyweight financials, with foreign fund inflows and a monsoon revival providing support.
The Nifty index rose as much as 0.56% to a record high of 18,923.10, as of 10:47 a.m. IST.
The index last hit a new peak in December 2022 and was just shy of the all-time high last week before hawkish central bank commentary spooked investors.
The S&P BSE Sensex also rose 0.52% to a fresh all-time high of 63,745.57 on Wednesday. The Sensex had already hit a record high last week, while the midcaps and smallcaps hovered around fresh record and 52-week highs, respectively.
The moves in the local indexes contrasted with a sombre mood in Asian peers, where global growth concerns overshadowed upbeat U.S. economic news. TMSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was little changed on Wednesday. [MKTS/GLOB]
Analysts, however, cautioned that while near-term triggers such as a revival in monsoons could provide some support, the market could consolidate again as valuations were at uncomfortable levels.
“We feel that now is the time to book some profits and sit on the sidelines. There’s no valuation comfort at this level,” said Samrat Dasgupta, CEO, Esquire Capital Investment Advisors, adding that much of the rally was driven by foreign fund inflows.
Foreign portfolio investors have bought 859.83 billion rupees ($10.49 billion) worth of equities in fiscal 2024 so far, after offloading 1.4 trillion rupees and 376.32 billion rupees in FY22 and FY23, respectively.
Most sectoral indexes logged gains, with HDFC and HDFC Bank extending gains after announcing plans to complete their proposed merger on July 1.
The Adani Group’s flagship Adani Enterprises was the top gainer on the Nifty, rising as much as 4.6% on several block deals.
($1 = 81.9950 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Janane Venkatraman)
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