In a landmark moment for the stock markets in India, the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex crossed the 50,000 mark for the first time on Thursday as the markets continued their bull run. With the Sensex being in the 49,000 territory, the much needed push came from Joe Biden’s inauguration as the US President on Wednesday. It opened at 50,096.57 and touched a fresh all-time high of 50,126.73 points.
At the time of writing, the Sensex was trading 274.85 points up at 50,066 points. Around 9.20 a.m., it was trading at 50,014.71, higher by 222.59 points or 0.45 per cent from its previous close of 49,792.12.
The rise is significant given that less than a year ago, in March 2020, the Sensex hit a low of 25,639 on the back of a disappointing budget followed by the coronavirus pandemic. In 10 months, the Sensex has nearly doubled in value.
On the National Stock Exchange (NSE) as well, the Nifty50 touched a new record high of 14,736.65 points. It was trading at 14,717.15, higher by 72.45 points or 0.49 per cent from its previous close.
Healthy buying was witnessed in auto and telecom stocks. A positive trend in the global markets also supported the indices on Thursday.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv and HCL Technologies.
Further, rise in the shares of index-heavyweight Reliance Industries also lifted the Sensex. RIL shares were trading at Rs 2,077.50, higher by Rs 22.65 or 1.10 per cent from its previous close.
Investors cheered as Democrat Joe Biden beat Donald Trump and was sworn in as the 46th president of the US along with Kamala Harris, Kamala who created history by becoming the first woman, first Black and first Indian-American vice president of the US.
Biden is also expected to sign a comprehensive immigration bill that removes the per country cap for green cars, among others, largely benefitting Indian IT professionals in the US, who have been waiting for a green card for years.
The landmark moment also comes days ahead of the budget where Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to unveil a budget that could bring back growth after India saw one of its worst slowdowns.