Riding high on positive global and domestic macroeconomic trends, benchmark Nifty extended its winning streak to the 10th consecutive session – the longest since October 2020 – and surpassed 25,100 points for the first time on Wednesday. Both the Nifty and the Sensex rose 0.1% each to close at 25,052.35 points and 81,785.56 points, respectively. While this was the highest-ever closing value for the 50-stock index, Sensex is around 80 points away from its record closing mark. In intra-day trade, Nifty even rose to a record high of 25,129.6 points but saw profit-booking, ahead of the monthly expiry of derivatives contracts on Thursday. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,347.53 crore, as per provisional data, turning sellers for the first time in five sessions. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors remained buyers with inflow of Rs 439.35 crore. In the last 10 sessions, the Nifty has risen 3.8%. Meanwhile, Sensex, too, has risen 3.6%, registering gains in nine out of the 10 sessions. The sentiments have been buoyed by hopes of a rate cut by the US Federal Reserve and easing concerns over the growth prospects of the world's largest economy. Along with benchmarks, the broader market indices also hit record high levels on Wednesday before witnessing profit booking. The BSE Midcap index ended flat, while the BSE Smallcap index fell 0.1%. “The markets are trading with rich valuations…Also, most of the major domestic events are over, which could slow the pace of gains going ahead. We feel the market would be more in ‘shallow correction rotation’,” said Shrikant Chouhan, executive VP and head of equity research at Kotak Securities. Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services shared a similar view. “Valuation remains a near-term deterrent, which will be further tested based on the upcoming India Q1 FY25 GDP data this week,” he said. Among sectoral indices on the NSE, only Nifty IT, Nifty Healthcare and Nifty Pharma ended higher.
