Indices log new record highs buoyed by RIL; Sensex rises 211 points

3.5% jump in RIL lifts indices; Nifty crosses 2021 intra-day high

Despite volatility in global markets, Indian benchmark indices scaled new highs on Monday aided by falling oil prices and gains in the Reliance Industries (RIL) stock.
 

The benchmark Sensex rose for the fifth successive session and ended at 62,505, a gain of 211 points or 0.3 per cent. The Nifty too rose 0.3 per cent to end the session at 18,563, a gain of 50 points. Both indices hit fresh highs on Monday. The Nifty touched 18,614.25 intraday, beating its earlier record of 18,604.5 that it hit on October 19, 2021.
 

Shares of RIL ended the session at a five-month high after they rose 3.5 per cent. It made a 277-point contribution to the Sensex’s gains. If not for RIL, the domestic indices would have ended in the red like most of their global peers, as protests in China hit sentiment and raised concerns over economic recovery.
 

Brent crude slipped below $80 a barrel—down 22 per cent from this month’s high—to its lowest level since the beginning of the year. From its highs, Brent crude has corrected 40 per cent this year.
 

The unrest in China over Covid restrictions has rattled equity markets across the globe as it complicates the reopening of the world’s second-largest economy. Some sections of the market speculated that the protests might push the country to ease restrictions sooner than expected.

 

“There is a view that things are going from bad to worse in China and some of the flows will come to India. And with the ongoing protests, the China+1 strategy gained some momentum,” said UR Bhat, co-founder of Alphaniti Fintech. 

“China has become less investible for large investors. The only other emerging market doing well is India. Jobs data will act as a catalyst for the swings hereon. If the momentum continues, the Nifty could soon cross the 19,000-mark,” he added.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 936 crore on Monday, while their domestic counterparts too were net buyers to the tune of Rs 88 crore.
 

“Progressive and prudent macro policies, resilient corporate earnings in Q2FY23, robust tax collections, early signs of recovery in Index of Industrial Production and Gross Domestic Product and first signs of cooling inflation have all excited investors,” said Dhiraj Relli, managing director and chief executive officer of HDFC Securities.
 

The rise in the markets was underpinned by domestic investors and high networth individuals – either directly or through the mutual fund route, Relli said, adding that this was topped up by FPIs, who pumped in Rs 32,344 crore in November. “Indian markets could continue to do well with some intermittent corrections till the Union Budget,” said Relli.
 

Going forward, market participants will track the US jobs report this week and the statements of US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and New York Fed President John Williams.
 

The market breadth was strong with 2,058 stocks rising against 1,555 declining. Apart from RIL, ICICI Bank (which rose 0.7 per cent) and Asian Paints (which rose 1.4 per cent) were the key contributors to the index’s gains.