BSE Market Cap Hits Record High: Rs 431.67 Lakh Crore

New Delhi, Jun 13 (PTI) The combined market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms hit a fresh record of Rs 431.67 lakh crore on Thursday when the benchmark Sensex also reached its new lifetime high level.

Rising for the second day in a row, the 30-share BSE benchmark jumped 538.89 points or 0.70 to hit its lifetime peak of 77,145.46. It later ended at a fresh record high at 76,810.90, up 204.33 points or 0.27 per cent.

Tracking the rally in equities, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies jumped to an all-time high of Rs 4,31,67,541.81 crore (USD 5.17 trillion). In two days, investors' wealth has risen by Rs 4.72 lakh crore.

"The domestic equity benchmark traded with a modest gain, with domestic CPI data indicating that inflation is on a slow track of decline," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

Retail inflation continued its downward slide to reach a one-year low of 4.75 per cent in May due to a marginal decline of prices in the food basket and remained within the Reserve Bank's comfort zone of below 6 per cent, according to government data released on Wednesday.

Among the 30 Sensex companies, Mahindra & Mahindra, Titan, Larsen & Toubro, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, Bajaj Finance and Nestle were the biggest gainers.

On the other hand, Hindustan Unilever, Power Grid, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank and ITC were among the laggards.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge climbed 0.89 per cent, and midcap index rallied 0.79 per cent.

Among the indices, realty jumped 2.15 per cent, capital goods (2.05 per cent), industrials (1.67 per cent), IT (1.08 per cent) and consumer discretionary (0.88 per cent).

In contrast, telecommunication, bankex and metal were the laggards.

A total of 2,345 stocks advanced, 1,539 declined, and 100 remained unchanged on the BSE.

Federal Reserve officials said on Wednesday that inflation has fallen further toward their target level in recent months but signalled that they expect to cut their benchmark interest rate just once this year.

The policymakers' forecast for one rate cut was down from a previous forecast of three, likely because inflation, despite having cooled in the past two months, remains persistently elevated.