Investor wealth zooms by Rs 1.8 trn as stocks surge to fresh closing high

Investor wealth rose Rs 1.81 lakh crore on Monday driven by a strong rally in the broader market where the BSE benchmark surged 530 points to hit a fresh closing high of 40,889.23.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed 529.82 points higher or 1.31 per cent at 40,889.23. During the trade, it zoomed 572.3 points to 40,931.71, its record intra-day high.

Led by this, the market capitalisation (m-cap) of the BSE-listed companies rose Rs 1,81,930.89 crore to Rs 1,54,55,740.67 crore.

"Signs of a cooling in rhetoric between the US and China has contributed to a resumption in foreign flows into India -- today's (Monday) market move is in line with similarly strong sentiment across Asian markets," S Hariharan, head (sales trading), Emkay Global Financial Services, said.

According to market traders, domestic indices followed their global peers which were enthused by reports that a preliminary trade deal between the US and China may be signed by the end of this year.

"The prolonged trade war between the US and China was weighing heavily on Indian indices. Positive statements made by officials (from both the countries) last week indicating that a trade pact is likely by the end of December 2019 are being welcomed," Sandeep Nayak, executive director and chief executive officer of Centrum Broking, said.

He added that foreign institutional investors are preferring emerging markets such as India as the recent easy monetary stance of US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank has improved liquidity in world markets.

"Whereas, India's economy is seeing a demand revival especially in the sectors of auto and consumer durables. The government providing relief to telecom companies over spectrum related dues and impending price increase planned by players has also revived interest in the sector," Nayak said.

From the 30-share pack, 28 stocks closed the day with gains led by Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank and Axis Bank.

On the BSE, 1,413 scrips advanced, while 1,086 declined and 208 remained unchanged.

"Cues that US and China will conclude a deal by next month lifted the sentiment across the globe. Reconstruction of Sensex indices and new developments over divestment to curb fiscal deficit provided confidence in Indian market. Expectations of further cut in interest rate by the RBI gave advantage to rate-sensitive stocks," Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services, said.