Markets hit record highs; Adani stocks lead rally

Equity benchmarks hit new highs on Wednesday, as robust foreign fund inflows and the advance of the southwest monsoon boosted investor sentiment.

- Ujjval Jauhari

NEW DELHI: The Nifty and the Sensex crossed the 19,000 and 64,000 marks, respectively, after a long period of consolidation. The Nifty touched all-time highs of 19,011.25, before closing at 18,972.10, up 0.82%. The Sensex also surged to new highs of 64,050.44 before closing at 63,915.42, up 0.79%. The Nifty, that had shot past 18,000 on 11 October 2021, took a record 20 months to gain the next 1,000 points. It also consolidated for almost seven months, before surpassing its earlier all-time high of 18,887.6 on 1 December 2022.

Analysts said positive global cues and narrowing of India’s current account deficit in the fourth quarter of FY23 helped the indices scale all-time highs.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought stocks worth a provisional ₹12,350 crore on Wednesday, even though domestic institutions resorted to profit-booking and sold a provisional ₹1,021 crore.