Sensex Hits New Record High, HDFC Group Stocks Rally

Benchmark indices surged to a new record all-time high of 63,588.31 points on Wednesday even as US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's congressional testimony to be held this week was eagerly awaited. Early in the trading day, the Sensex climbed as much as 0.41%, reaching 63,588.31. A record-breaking high for the blue-chip index was reached on December 1, 2022, when it scaled 63,583.07 points.

While writing this copy, Power Grid and L&T were the top gainers. Power Grid shares opened today at Rs 248.80 apiece and logged in an upside gain of 2.27% whereas Larsen and Toubro opened at Rs 2,382 and clocked in an upside gain of 1.10% during the morning deals. Other stocks that were in green are HDFC, HDFC Bank, Wipro, Reliance, Tech Mahindra, HUL, UltraTech Cement, TCS, Bharti Airtel, and SBI.

Commenting on the outlook of for the Sensex, Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd said "After a minor hiccup, markets resumed their upward journey toward a lifetime high as the domestic fundamentals remain strong. We expect momentum to continue with the overall structure still intact. Investors would focus on PM Modi's visit to the US as this will strengthen ties and deal wins.

Also, all eyes will be on Fed chair Jerome Powell's two-day congressional testimony starting on Wednesday. These could potentially hint at a July hike given the Fed signaled the possibility of more rate increases later in the year if inflation remained an issue. Niche sector like Defence is likely to remain in action on the back of expectation of new orders. NBFC stocks are witnessing renewed interest on expectation of good monsoon which would improve microfinance demand from the rural sectors. IT sector is likely to remain in focus ahead of Accenture results on Thursday."

On the other hand, Nifty was seen trading at 18,839.10 level up by 22.40 points, away 48.50 points from its all-time high.

Ruchit jain, Lead Research 5paisa.com said "Sensex hit an all-time high level today and reached a new milestone. Our markets have sailed through the global turbulent times quite well and we have seen a broad market participation in the recent run-up. We believe our markets will continue to hit new milestones in this bull market, and hence we believe good times are still ahead of us."

Naveen Kulkarni, Chief Investment Officer, Axis Securities said ""Sensex touched the all-time high mark, and Nifty 50 is a few points away from the all-time high level, which was earlier seen in Nov'22 end. The Indian market has seen a solid rally in the last couple of months, especially in the mid and small-cap space, led by positive FII flows, robust economic growth vs. other EM countries, strong earnings outlook, robust demand across the sector, the banking sector in better shape, and private capex cycle expectations. The Indian economy stands at a sweet spot of growth and remains the land of stability against the backdrop of a volatile global economy. We continue to believe in the long-term growth story of the Indian equity market, supported by the emerging favourable structure, as increasing Capex enables banks to improve credit growth. Our base case Dec'23 Nifty target is at 20,200 by valuing it at 20x on Dec'24 earnings."

Gaurav Bissa, VP, InCred Equities said "Sensex has been inching higher slowly and gradually and finally it has managed to make a fresh lifetime high today. Investors with a horizon of two years and more are expected to witness strong gains going forward. Sectors like IT, PSE and Pharma look ripe for a major reversal which can rewards long term investors with strong wealth creation whereas sectors like Consumer Durable, Auto and Infra are expected to continue their uptrend along with strong outperformance in the medium term."