New Delhi
Records, records and more records. That is the story of Indian stocks this month. After breaching multiple key milestones this week, Indian shares hit fresh all-time highs early on Friday. India's benchmark indices set multiple new milestones for the third straight session, surpassing key levels.
The blue-chip Sensex index is now eyeing the 80,000 points level. The broader nifty index is looking at the 25,000 mark. Both the benchmarks have breached year-end targets already. Still, analysts broadly expect the rally in Indian stocks to run further. The real question is - to what levels.
The Sensex index has risen over a staggering 7,000 points since a sharp slump on the election results day. For the index, the jump to 79,000 from 78,000 took just two trading sessions. On Friday, the index opened at a new record high of 79,458 and jumped further to a fresh life high of 79,672 points.
The Nifty index also started Friday at a new record of 24,086 and rose further to an all-time high of 24,174 points. These are levels not expected until the end of the year.
On Thursday, the Sensex opened at a record high of 78,759 and rose further to breach the 79,000 level for the first time ever. The index rose to an all-time high of 79,396 and closed at a record of 79,243. The broader Nifty index started at a new high of 23,882 and rose further to a new all-time high of 24,087. The index closed at a life high of 24,044.
In the previous session, too, both indices extended their bull run for another session of multiple milestones. Every measure on Wednesday and Thursday was a new milestone - record open, intra-day high not seen ever, and life high close.
Now, let's put the current bull run into context. The nifty index has marked some kind of a record in 14 of 15 sessions since June 7. Monday was the only exception in the record-high runs for the index. The rally is driven by positioning ahead of the budget on expectations of tax reforms and pro-growth announcements. The surge also suggests that the risk of a crash will increase if the government does not deliver on those expectations.