Nifty continues winning run, valuations race ahead of pre-Lehman highs

The 50-stock index is trading at 29.3 times earnings, beating 2008 P/E multiple of 28.3x

The benchmark indices continue to scale new highs on Dalal Street, driven by foreign capital inflows and higher valuations. Early this week, when the Nifty50 made a fresh lifetime high, the index price-earnings multiple beat the previous high reached during the pre-Lehman crisis rally in 2008.

The Nifty50 index is currently trading at 29.3 times its underlying earnings per share (EPS) for the trailing 12 months, beating the previous record earnings multiple of 28.3x made on January 8, 2008. The index had touched a valuation of 27.8x in the January-March 2018 quarter. 

The spike in valuation has come despite the