The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies reached an all-time high of Rs 261.73 lakh crore on Thursday, helped by a massive rally in the equities where the benchmark Sensex zoomed 958 points to end at a fresh lifetime peak.
The 30-share BSE benchmark jumped 958.03 points or 1.63 per cent to settle at its new closing peak of 59,885.36.
During the day, it gained 1,029.92 points to touch an intra-day record high of 59,957.25.
Driven by the rally in the equities, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies jumped Rs 316,778.1 crore to reach Rs 261,73,374.32 crore.
"The market took the US Fed statement of starting tapering as soon as November in its stride.
"Encouraging news on Evergrande crisis also helped to clear some uncertainty on the global front.
"Indian markets have been on a roll and the rally today was symbolic of the prevailing strong sentiment locally on the back of reduction in covid cases and the strong vaccination numbers," Devang Mehta, head of equity advisory at Centrum Broking, said.
On Wednesday, US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed plans to announce as early as November that it will start to taper its monthly bond purchases, should the job market maintain its steady improvement.
"Amidst a strong start, bulls showed no signs of weakness to soar higher boosted by strong global cues and broad-based buying led by realty, metal and banking stocks.
"Global markets tempered optimism despite a slightly hawkish tilt by the Fed Reserve intimating that the US Central Bank will begin reducing its asset purchases in November and conclude the tapering process around mid-2022," Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, said.
Bajaj Finserv was the biggest gainer among the 30-share BSE benchmark frontline companies pack, gaining over 5 per cent, followed by L&T, HDFC, Axis Bank, SBI and Reliance Industries.
In contrast, Dr Reddy's, ITC, Nestle, HUL and Bharti Airtel were the laggards.
The BSE midcap and smallcap gained up to 1.28 per cent.
Photograph: Kunal Patil/PTI Photo
