Stock markets rallied on Thursday after trading in losses for two straight sessions. What drove the markets higher was the strong rise in shares of Reliance Industries (RIL), which hit a fresh life-time high. The benchmark Nifty rose 171.25 points, or 1.52%, to close at 11,449.25. The Sensex was up by 646.4 points, or 1.69%, to close at 38,840.32.
Siddhartha Khemka, head – retail research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said: “Domestic market witnessed sa trong momentum as Reliance Industries (RIL) surged more than 7%, contributing more than 126 points to the gain in Nifty. Markets tomorrow would react to the ECB monetary policy decision due today evening. It would further track the developments over the India-China border tensions.”
The markets rallied in the last hour of the trading session, with RIL’s stock price rising by 7.29% to reach an all-time high. The index heavyweight also hit a market capitalisation of $200 billion, becoming the first Indian company to do so, after its stake sale in Reliance Retail. The stock price ended at Rs 2,319 a piece.
In its report, Credit Suisse, while speaking about the valuations of Reliance Retail, said the upside in the retail segment from further ramp-up in e-commerce and kirana store integration was not fully factored in. “The next catalysts for the stock are rollout of a health app with integration of online medicine delivery, rollout of education app, potential induction of strategic investors in retail and more financial investors, tariff increase in the telecom business and turnaround in the refining margin cycle,” said Credit Suisse.
Strong global cues also propelled the markets higher, with Asian stocks tracking Wall Street gains the previous day. The bourses in Taiwan, South Korea and Japan ended up between 0.6% and 0.8%. European markets were cautious ahead of the European Central Bank meeting.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have been sellers in the Indian markets. On Wednesday, they pulled out $126.6 million while domestic institutional investors sold stocks worth $34.73 million.
NSE data show the futures and options segment saw a turnover worth Rs 45.8 lakh crore on Thursday, against the six-month average of Rs 15.42 lakh crore. The cash market segment, on the other hand, saw a turnover worth Rs 59,581.57 crore, against the six month average of Rs 53,128 crore.
Big gainers on the Nifty were Reliance Industries, BPCL, Asian Paints, IOC and Axis Bank, up by 7.29%, 6.02%, 4.24%, 3.85% and 3.65%. Major losers were Bharti Infratel, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel and DRL, down by 4.78%, 2.93%, 2.26%, 1.2% and 1.14%.
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