The Indian stock market stayed in the green for the fifth straight session on April 21, with the Sensex and Nifty 50 both delivering solid gains. Despite global uncertainties, local sentiment remained upbeat, fuelling broad-based buying across sectors.
Investors had plenty of reason to smile as the markets added ₹6 lakh crore in wealth in just one session.
By the closing bell, the Sensex had jumped 855 points, or 1.09%, to settle at 79,408.50. The Nifty 50, too, wasn’t far behind, rising 274 points (1.15%) to close at 24,125.55.
This marks five straight sessions of gains, during which the Sensex has risen by 5,561 points and the Nifty by 1,726 points — translating to a surge of around 7.5% and 7.7% respectively.
Market capitalisation of all BSE-listed companies shot up to nearly ₹426 lakh crore from ₹420 lakh crore the previous session. That’s a single-day increase of ₹6 lakh crore. Add it all up, and the five-day rally has created an estimated ₹32 lakh crore in additional investor wealth.
Whether that wealth holds up or not is another matter — but for now, the market’s on a tear.
Several factors appear to be fuelling this rally. Analysts point to a stable economic outlook, decent Q4 earnings so far, and renewed interest from foreign portfolio investors.
VK Vijayakumar of Geojit says India stands out as a rare major economy capable of sustaining 6% growth even in a cooling global economy. With the dollar softening, more FPI inflows may be headed this way. There’s also chatter in the market that India might ink a deal with the US soon, which is adding to the short-term optimism.
Among individual performers, Tech Mahindra rallied 5.14%, making it the top gainer on the Nifty 50. Trent and IndusInd Bank followed with gains of 4.32% and 4.06% respectively. In total, 39 of the 50 Nifty stocks closed in the green.
On the flip side, Adani Ports dipped 1.27%, HDFC Life fell 1.12%, and ITC dropped 1.01% — making them the biggest losers of the day, albeit with relatively mild cuts.
Banking stocks were buzzing. The Nifty Bank index surged to a record intraday high of 55,461.65 before closing at 55,304.50, up 1.87%. Financial services stocks joined the rally too, with the Nifty Financial Services index touching a new high of 26,527.70 and ending the day 1.39% higher.
It wasn’t just the large-caps riding high. The BSE Midcap index jumped 2.20% while the Smallcap index added 1.67%, showing that investor enthusiasm spilled over into the broader market as well.
In terms of trading volume, Vodafone Idea led the pack with a whopping 104.73 crore shares changing hands. YES Bank followed with 21.21 crore shares, while Suzlon logged volumes of 16.97 crore. These names continue to draw heavy retail interest, especially from those betting on turnaround stories.
While the mood is clearly buoyant, some caution may be warranted. Global jitters haven’t entirely gone away, and the full picture of corporate earnings is yet to unfold.
(By arrangement with livemint.com)
