The total market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies touched an all-time high of Rs 280.50 lakh crore, supported by the latest bull run in Indian stocks boosted by a return of foreign investors into domestic capital markets.
Tracking the recent rally in equities, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms jumped to a new record high of Rs 2,80,52,760.91 crore on Thursday. Earlier on January 17, the market capitalisation (m-cap) of BSE-listed firms had reached a lifetime high of Rs 2,80,02,437.71 crore.
Indian equity benchmarks have extended their bull run into the fifth straight week, with the Sensex and Nifty indexes ending Thursday on a more than four-month high.
The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 37.87 points or 0.06 per cent higher at 60,298, marking the benchmark's fifth straight session of gains, and the broader NSE Nifty climbed 12.25 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 17,956.50.
Both the benchmark bourses have recovered all of the losses they suffered in 2022 because of gains of nearly 11 per cent over the past four weeks, with Indian stocks posting their greatest week since February late last month.
The broader NSE Nifty 50 index hit over a four-month high close in the previous session and extended that winning streak to an eighth straight day.
"Recent gains in Indian indices have been helped by a combination of factors, including encouraging macro data, fall in commodity prices, slowing inflation that may lead to central banks globally softening their monetary policy stance earlier than expected etc. Return of buying by FPIs has also helped," Dhiraj Relli, MD & CEO, HDFC Securities, told PTI on BSE market cap reaching a new all-time high.
On Thursday, domestic stocks defied a broad global sell-off trend as strong capital inflows continued to boost Indian shares.
"We're in the fifth successive week of advance and rotational buying across sectors helping the index maintain the prevailing trend," Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking Ltd, told PTI.
Twenty-two of the 43 companies listed on the Nifty 50 index outperformed analysts' expectations for earnings results in the June quarter, according to Reuters, which cited Refinitiv Eikon data. By Friday, nearly all Indian companies had released their earnings reports.
Analysts anticipate an improvement in the second half of the year for Indian businesses, driven by a decline in commodity prices that will relieve margin pressure.
Inflows of foreign capital have helped to boost the domestic market.
Until early July, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) were consistently selling equities in the Indian markets for about nine-to-ten months due to various reasons, including tightening of monetary policy in advanced economies, rising demand for the dollar and high returns from US bonds.
They have pulled out Rs 171,345 crore worth of equities so far in 2022, NSDL data showed.
Meanwhile, benchmark indices - Sensex and Nifty - rose nearly 10-11 per cent during the ongoing rally on a cumulative basis, thereby recovering largely the entire losses they witnessed so far in 2022. The latest rally in stocks made Indian investors richer by over Rs 25 trillion.
In July, they were, however, the net buyer with a total purchase of equities worth Rs 4,989 crore. So far in August, data showed that they bought equities worth another Rs 41,024 crore.
The benchmark Sensex index breached the psychologically crucial 60,000 mark on Wednesday after more than four months, and the Nifty index is heading towards the 18,000 points mark.
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