BSE’s mkt cap hits new peak of Rs 283.5 lakh crore – Times of India

Mumbai: The two-month-old market rally, driven majorly by foreign fund buying since early July, on Thursday took BSE’s market capitalisation to an all-time high figure of nearly Rs 283.5 lakh crore. The previous high of Rs 283.2 lakh crore was recorded in mid-January this year, BSE data showed.
During the day’s session, the sensex recovered smartly from its early low to end marginally higher by 38 points at 60,298. The recovery added nearly Rs 72,000 crore to the BSE’s market cap to take it to the fresh peak. The last few weeks have seen strong foreign fund buying, sliding crude oil price, and moderating inflation numbers in July. Additionally, expectations of a less-than-hawkish US central bank in raising rates and a relatively good monsoon have given new hopes to investors about the sustenance of the current rally, market players said.

Net buying of Indian stocks by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) so far in August is worth a little under Rs 40,000 crore while crude oil, the biggest import item for India, is down 25% from a multi-year high of $125-130 per barrel. On Thursday, however, FPIs were net sellers at Rs 1,706 crore, BSE data showed.
Along with the current market rally, listing of several large companies since January this year also added to BSE’s overall market cap. Prominent among the newly listed stocks are LIC (current mcap Rs 4.4 lakh crore), Adani Wilmar (Rs 95,090 crore) and Delhivery (Rs 40,627 crore), IPO data from the bourses showed.
In Thursday’s market, the sensex, after losing nearly 200 points, made a slow recovery to close 38 points higher. At the current level, it’s about 3% off from its all-time peak of 62,245 points recorded on October 19, 2021. At the close of the day’s session, Kotak Mahindra Bank, L&T and Bharti Airtel were the biggest contributors to the index’s gain. Among the index stocks, gainers and laggards were nearly evenly distributed with 14 gainers to 16 laggards, BSE data showed.