Sensex crosses 26,000, Nifty scales up by 7,787.95

Mumbai: The equity markets rose to a record high on Monday with the benchmark BSE Sensex scaling above its psychological 26K level mark for the first time as investors are betting big on the announcement of major policy directions in the upcoming Union Budget.

After opening the day on a positive note, the Sensex touched an intra-day high of 26,123.55, before ending the trading session at 26,100.08. The Nifty too climbed to its lifetime high of 7,787.15, surging 35.55 points or 0.46 per cent.

“Most of the global investors are now looking forward to the budget to get a sense of the long term policy direction and governments stance on retrospective taxation. So lot of long term investors are waiting for the government to present its maiden budget before taking any investment call,” said C.J. George, chairman and managing director, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

The provisional data from the stock exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 198.57 crore on Monday. The broader market remained extremely strong with 1,700 stocks closing the day on a higher note as compared to 1,383 stocks that declined.

According to Kishore P. Ostwal, CMD, CNI Research, the Indian equity markets are expected to see $100 billion of foreign investment in the next two years. “India has got the best ever prime minister, who is excellent in execution skills. So India would soon catch up with China in terms of economic growth.

The sectors that would benefit the most during this period would be cement, engineering, automobile, banking and FMCG,” Mr Ostwal said and added that the Sensex is poised to hit the 45,000 level mark in the next three years.