Investor wealth jumps Rs 4.5 trn as markets rally over HDFC twins' merger

Investors turned wealthier by more than Rs 4.5 lakh crore on Monday as the domestic equity market rallied over 2 per cent on the proposed merger of HDFC Ltd with HDFC Bank.

Reflecting bullish investor sentiments, the 30-share key index Sensex surged 1,335.05 points or a whopping 2.25 per cent to reclaim the 60,000-level, boosted by intense buying in banking and financial stocks after the announcement of merger between HDFC and HDFC Bank.

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies, also an indicator of notional wealth of investors, surged to Rs 2,72,46,213.62 crore.

This marks a gain of Rs 4,57,826.69 crore compared to the market valuation of Rs 2,67,88,386.93 crore at the close of trading on the BSE on Friday.

As per the BSE data, as many as 179 stocks touched their 52-week highs.

"It was a stellar day for the Indian equity market on the back of the out of syllabus announcement of a merger between HDFC Ltd and HDFC Bank," said Parth Nyati, Founder, Tradingo.

"More than 70 per cent of contribution to the gain of Nifty50 was because of HDFC twins and led to short covering in the market. Global cues are stable whereas prices are cooling off and FIIs are showing buying interest that is leading to outperformance in the Indian equity market," Nyati added.

All BSE sectoral indices mustered gains, led by finance (4.25 per cent), bankex (3.45 per cent), power (3 per cent), utilities (2.93 per cent) and capital goods (1.79 per cent).

In the broader markets, the BSE midcap and smallcap gauges gained as much as 1.68 per cent.