Sensex breaches 59,000 mark; Nifty climbs 10,000 pts from 2020 Covid lows

The benchmark indices hit fresh record highs on Thursday, led by gains in ITC, Reliance Industries, and banking stocks. 

The Sensex closed at 59,141 with a gain of 418 points, or 0.7 per cent, moving from 58,000 to 59,000 in just eight trading sessions. On the other hand, the Nifty 50 index ended at 17,630, up 110 points, or 0.6 per cent, completing its 10,000-point run from its Covid-19 low of 7,610 on March 23, 2020.

The Bank Nifty index gained 2.22 per cent ahead of a press briefing by the finance minister. The index breached its previous record high hit in February.

India’s market capitalisation topped $3.5 trillion (Rs 260.8 trillion), becoming the world's sixth most valuable market ahead of France, and neck and neck with the UK. Domestic equities have clocked the best performance among global equities in 2021. The benchmark Nifty is up 26 per cent year-to-date. In comparison, the MSCI World index has gained 16 per cent.