BSE’s yoyo swing: From 42K to 25K to 35K in less than 6 months

Indian stock markets,

New Delhi, (Samajweekly) The BSE Sensex is on a roller-coaster ride as it went from a high in January to a low in March and continuing the pattern, has gained almost 11,000 points in 66 sessions.

The BSE Sensex made a low, on March 24, of 25,638.90 points and took 66 trading sessions to get to 36,000 points.

The benchmark index had also gone down in a hurry. The 52-week-high of 42,273 points was on January 20 but within two months, it had collapsed to a 52-week-low of 25,638 points on March 24.

Siddhartha Khemka, Head, Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services said on an intra-day basis, NSE Nifty touched 10,598, its highest level in last 64 sessions, on March 9. “This indicates that bulls are gaining strength and supports are gradually shifting higher,” he added.

The Indian equity markets continued its positive momentum on the back of positive global cues. Global sentiments continue to be buoyant on the back of more positive economic data and encouraging coronavirus vaccine trials.

Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech was found to be well tolerated in early-stage human trials. On the domestic side, better than expected auto sales numbers kept the spirits high.

Several countries, led by the US, have announced a stimulus package and quantitative easing which has led to liquidity sloshing around in the markets. However, there is also a view, expressed by the IMF that there is a disconnect between the economic reality and the asset prices in the markets. IMF has even gone on to say that valuations look stretched.

Nifty surged 122 points to end at 10,552 on Thursday while Sensex ended 429 points higher to close at 35,844. The broader market also gained with Nifty Midcap 100/ Smallcap 100 up 1.1 per cent and 0.9 per cent. All the sectors ended in green except banking and realty which ended in marginal red. Auto and IT were the biggest gainers which led to the market rally. India VIX cooled down 5.7 per cent to 26.5 levels.

Khemka said while there are concerns over rising coronavirus cases and chances of second round of lockdown, market seems to be factoring in positive macro-economic data, onset of timely monsoon and initial success in vaccine development. Investors would also keenly watch out for the US employment data, which was to come out of Thursday.