Indian Stock Market Hits Record High, Investors Gain Rs 4.28 Lakh Cr

New Delhi, May 23 (PTI) Investors' wealth on Thursday went up by Rs 4.28 lakh crore amid the ongoing optimistic trend in equities where the benchmark Sensex hit its lifetime peak.

The 30-share BSE Sensex regained the 75,000 level in intra-day trade on Thursday. It climbed 1,196.98 points or 1.61 per cent to settle at a new closing peak of 75,418.04. During the day, the Sensex zoomed 1,278.85 points or 1.72 per cent to reach the intra-day high of 75,499.91.

The NSE Nifty went up by 369.85 points or 1.64 per cent to settle at 22,967.65. It jumped 395.8 points or 1.75 per cent to 22,993.60 -- the barometer's record intra-day high.

Investors' wealth went up by Rs 4,28,602.18 crore with the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies reaching an all-time high of Rs 4,20,22,635.90 crore (USD 5.05 trillion).

"Markets ended at fresh all-time high amid short-covering, improving investors' sentiment towards the election outcome and healthy macros highlighted by the record dividend payout by RBI," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

Market-cap of BSE-listed companies too crossed USD 5 trillion making India the 5th country to reach this milestone, he added.

The combined market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies hit the historic USD 5 trillion-mark for the first time at the close of trade on Wednesday.

The Reserve Bank of India will pay a record Rs 2.1 lakh crore dividend to the government for the fiscal ended March 2024, more than double of budgeted expectation, helping shore up revenue ahead of a new government taking office.

The RBI board, at its 608th meeting on Wednesday, approved the transfer of surplus, the central bank said in a statement.

The combined market valuation of all listed companies on the BSE reached the USD 4 trillion milestone for the first time ever on November 29 last year.

The market capitalisation of listed companies on the NSE also hit the USD 5 trillion-mark at the close of trade on Thursday.

Among the Sensex firms, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, Axis Bank, Maruti, UltraTech Cement, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Titan, Tata Consultancy Services and Reliance Industries were the major gainers.

Sun Pharma, PowerGrid and NTPC were the laggards.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.58 per cent and smallcap index went up by 0.27 per cent.

Among the indices, auto climbed 2.28 per cent, capital goods by 2.13 per cent, bankex by 1.98 per cent, financial services by 1.64 per cent, services by 1.63 per cent, teck by 1.42 per cent, consumer discretionary by 1.19 per cent and IT by 1.18 per cent.

Metal index emerged as the laggard.