India's Sensex hits all-time high; Nifty settles at a record close

India'sbenchmarkSensexstock index hit arecordon Wednesday, while theNifty50 logged a new closinghighamid sustained foreign inflows into Indian equities backed by the country's strong growth prospects.

The S&P BSESensexhit anall-timehighat 63,588.31, before giving up some gains tocloseat 63,523.15.

TheSensex, though up by over 4 per centso far this year, has still underperformed indexes of countries like Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. But,Sensexwas the first index to hit arecordhighthis year.

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The blue-chipNiftyindex rose 0.21 per centto 18,856.85, arecordclose.

"After an almost eight-month consolidation, theSensexhas hit anall-timehigh," said Amar Ambani, head of institutional equities at YES Securities.

"If monsoons do not play spoilsport, 2023 will be a strong year for Indian equities. FPI money should keep flowing into India."

Foreign investors have poured in 738.12 billion rupees ($8.99 billion) so far in this financial year. They were net sellers in the two previous financial years, with arecordoutflow of 1,400.10 billion rupees in FY 2022.

India'seconomic growth has accelerated in the March quarter, while inflation has cooled, showing that the country remains one of the fastest-growing emerging economies.

On Wednesday, nine of the 13 major sectoral indexes advanced, withhigh-weightage financials adding 0.68 per cent.

Broader indexes extended gains with midcaps rising 0.81 per centand hitting a freshhighand smallcap index advancing to a new 52-weekhigh.

Among individual stocks, Shriram Finance jumped over 11 per centand hit arecordafter Piramal Enterprises sold its entire 8.34 per centstake in the company.

Markets, meanwhile, waited for USFederal Reserve Chief Jerome Powell's testimony before the financial affairs committee of the USHouse of Representatives.

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