Adani group, financial stocks, FII inflows lift Nifty, Sensex today to all-time highs India’s blue-chip Nifty 50 hit a record high on Wednesday after struggling to breach the level for several sessions, lifted by gains in Adani group stocks and heavyweight financials, with foreign fund inflows and a monsoon revival providing support. The Nifty index rose as much as 0.56% to a record high of 18,923.10, as of 10:47 a.m. IST. The index last hit a new peak in December 2022 and was just shy of the all-time high last week before hawkish central bank commentary spooked investors. The S&P BSE Sensex also rose 0.52% to a fresh all-time high of 63,745.57 on Wednesday. The Sensex had already hit a record high last week, while the midcaps and smallcaps hovered around fresh record and 52-week highs, respectively. The moves in the local indexes contrasted with a sombre mood in Asian peers, where global growth concerns overshadowed upbeat U.S. economic news. TMSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was little changed on Wednesday. Foreign portfolio investors have bought 859.83 billion rupees ($10.49 billion) worth of equities in fiscal 2024 so far, after offloading 1.4 trillion rupees and 376.32 billion rupees in FY22 and FY23, respectively. Most sectoral indexes logged gains, with HDFC and HDFC Bank extending gains after announcing plans to complete their proposed merger on July 1.The Adani Group’s flagship Adani Enterprises was the top gainer on the Nifty, rising as much as 4.6% on several block deals.
Last Friday, WTI and Brent slid 3% after strong U.S. jobs data raised concerns that the Federal Reserve would keep raising interest rates, which in turn boosted the dollar. While recession fears dominated the market last week, on Sunday International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol highlighted that China’s recovery remains a key driver for oil prices.
“If demand goes up very strongly, if the Chinese economy rebounds, then there will be a need, in my view, for the OPEC+ countries to look at their (output) policies,” Birol told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in India.Price caps on Russian products took effect on Sunday, with the Group of Seven (G7), the European Union and Australia agreeing on caps of $100 per barrel on diesel and other products that trade at a premium to crude, and $45 per barrel for products that trade at a discount, such as fuel oil.
“For the moment, the market expects non-EU countries will increase imports of refined Russian crude, thus creating little disruption to overall supplies,” ANZ analysts said in a client note. “Nevertheless, OPEC’s continued constraint on supply should keep the market tight,” they said.