Market cap of BSE-listed firms hit all-time high of Rs 438.41 lakh crore

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms hit an all-time high of Rs 438.41 lakh crore on Thursday, fuelled by a record-breaking rally in equities where the Sensex breached the historic 79,000 mark for the first time. Rallying for the fourth day running, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 568.93 points or 0.72% to settle at a new closing peak of 79,243.18 on Thursday.

During the day, it zoomed 721.78 points or 0.91% to hit the new lifetime peak of 79,396.03. In the past four trading days, the BSE benchmark jumped 2,033.28 points or 2.63%

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies hit a lifetime high of Rs 4,38,41,960.73 crore ($ 5.25 trillion). Investors' wealth has gone up by Rs 3.93 lakh crore in four trading sessions. Remarkably, the BSE benchmark took just two trading sessions to cover the journey from the 78,000 level hit on June 25 to breach the 79,000 mark on June 27. The Nifty ended at a fresh record high of 24,044.50, rising 175.70 points or 0.74%. Intra-day, it soared 218.65 points or 0.91% to hit the all-time peak of 24,087.45.

The Nifty hit the 23,000 mark on May 24 this year. Among the 30 Sensex companies, UltraTech Cement jumped 5% after the country's leading cement maker said it will acquire a 23% stake in its Chennai-based rival India Cements Ltd, in a deal estimated to be around Rs 1,885 crore.

NTPC, JSW Steel, Tata Motors, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bharti Airtel were also among the major gainers. Larsen & Toubro, Sun Pharma, Nestle, HDFC Bank, Maruti and State Bank of India were among the laggards.

"The Sensex surpassing 79,000 marks a historic milestone, reflecting healthy investor confidence and strong fundamentals in key sectors like banking and telecom. Benchmark indices rallied on Thursday, reversing earlier declines, driven by strong buying in blue-chip companies, propelling the Sensex past this historic barrier and leading the Nifty to a new all-time high".

"Remarkably, it took only 23 sessions to rise from 23,000 to 24,000, compared to 88 sessions previously," continued Trivesh D, COO at Tradejini, a discount brokerage firm.

"The benchmark indices exhibited bullish momentum, buoyed by an expected revival in the IT sector and consolidation in the cement industry," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said.