Nifty hits all-time high, Sensex rallies 300 points; here’s what is driving equity markets on Friday

• Follow

Benchmark equity index NSE Nifty scaled its fresh high on Friday due to heavy buying in index heavyweights including oil-to-telecom behemoth Reliance Industries, Adani Ports, Eicher Motors, Coal India and Grasim.

The 50-share index advanced around 95 points to 15,432 at around 1.10 pm (IST). The index earlier opened the day at 15,421 and hit its new lifetime high of 15,455 during the day. Likewise, the 30-share BSE Sensex gained over 300 points intraday to 51,477. The index still over 1,000 points away from its all-time high of 52,516.

Going with the buzz on Dalal Street, here are few factors that have been keeping sentiment upbeat despite uncertainty over Covid-19 pandemic.

Liquidity and strong commodity cycle: Hemang Jani, Head Equity Strategy, Broking & Distribution, Motilal Oswal Financial Services believes that comfortable liquidity due to lack of avenues to deploy globally and the strong commodity cycle in metals, sugar and agrochemicals took the market to new highs.

Global cues: The global cues have been positive as reopening of economies in western countries and encouraging economic data points towards quick global economic recovery. Further pledge by the US Federal Reserve along with a host of other Central Bank policymakers to keep monetary policy loose despite recent signs of an uptick in inflation has abated the concerns so far.

Likhita Chepa, Senior Research Analyst, CapitalVia Global Research said, “Following favuorable global cues, the market made a good start on Friday’s opening session. We observed holistic participation of different sectors helping the market to maintain the early gain. The market’s overall structure remains positive. As investors are optimistic about the economy’s reopening in June, which will help restart commercial activity. Besides, investors are anticipating today’s meeting of the goods and services tax council, in which the commission is likely to discuss the compensation shortfall.”

Dip in Covid cases: Even domestically, with fresh cases subsiding continuously, investors are upbeat about the unlocking of the economy in June which will help revive commercial activities.

Robust earnings and stimulus hopes: Healthy earnings season with strong growth momentum lent support to the market. On the other hand, expectations of further stimulus by the government are also bolstering investor confidence. Thus, as the second Covid-19 wave continues to recede in India and the pace of vaccination expected to pick up from next month, analysts expect the long term fundamentals to remain intact and the journey to become little smoother. Brokerage ICICI Securities believes that Nifty may hit 16,400-mark by September.