The Nifty and the Sensex crossed the 19,000 and 64,000 marks, respectively, after a long period of consolidation. The Nifty touched all-time highs of 19,011.25, before closing at 18,972.10, up 0.82%. The Sensex also surged to new highs of 64,050.44 before closing at 63,915.42, up 0.79%. The Nifty, that had shot past 18,000 on 11 October 2021, took a record 20 months to gain the next 1,000 points. It also consolidated for almost seven months, before surpassing its earlier all-time high of 18,887.6 on 1 December 2022.

Analysts said positive global cues and narrowing of India’s current account deficit in the fourth quarter of FY23 helped the indices scale all-time highs.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought stocks worth a provisional ₹12,350 crore on Wednesday, even though domestic institutions resorted to profit-booking and sold a provisional ₹1,021 crore.

“After making several attempts in the past few days, Nifty finally managed to cross its previous highs. Strong institutional flows, healthy macros and robust earnings growth drove the domestic market towards its new highs” said Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Dhiraj Relli, the managing director and chief executive of HDFC Securities attributed Wednesday’s gains to improving US economic data, and China’s hints about fresh stimulus measures. The upside momentum could take the Nifty even higher and if the El Nino fears subside, one might see a more sustainable upward movement, said Relli.

The gains were led by Adani Enterprises Ltd and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, with JSW Steel Ltd, Bajaj Auto Ltd, and Sun Pharmaceuticals Ltd among other prominent gainers. A strong rebound in metals, pharma and healthcare stocks led the rally on Wednesday, along with gains in banks, auto, oil and gas, and consumer durables shares.

Most sectoral indices were in the green, with Housing Development Finance Corp. (HDFC) Ltd and HDFC Bank Ltd extending gains after announcing plans to complete their proposed merger on 1 July. The mid-caps and small-caps hovered around fresh record and 52-week highs, respectively.

After multiple attempts, the domestic market successfully managed to sustain record high levels thanks to the increased buying interest in heavyweight stocks, said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.

The Nifty index has achieved a new all-time high, driven by a renewed sense of optimism, said Rupak De, senior technical analyst at LKP Securities. This rally, De said, was backed by a consolidation breakout observed on the daily chart, indicating a strong upward movement. Additionally, the Nifty index has successfully invalidated a dark cloud cover pattern on the weekly chart, he said.

In the short term, De expects the Nifty to remain positive as long as it stays above the support level of 18,700. This level is significant because put writers, who provide downside protection, are actively positioned there to prevent a substantial decline in the index. The immediate resistance for Nifty is seen at 19,000. If the Nifty convincingly breaks above this level, it may make a move towards 19,450, De added.

However, there is some caution as the strong rally has turned Nifty valuations more expensive. S. Hariharan, head of institutional equity sales at Emkay Global Financial Services expects technical resistance around current levels to allow over-bought momentum indicators to cool, and a rotational flow into other sectors besides financials in the coming couple of weeks.

Hariharan said that a meaningful jump in foreign institutional investor (FII) buying in both cash and futures segments has led the Indian markets getting disconnected from other markets in the region, to erase the entire under-performance for the year to date in 2023. On the other hand, both domestic institutional investors (DIIs) and retail have been largely absent in terms of participation for the last 20 days.

Meanwhile, on the global front, US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will deliver a speech at the European Central Bank forum on Central Banking 2023. The event will be watched for cues pertaining to interest rate outlook in the developed countries.

Updated: 29 Jun 2023, 12:09 AM IST