Sensex took less than 6 months to jump from 65k to 70k

2023 is the year of milestones and the Indian market has hit yet another one today! After the benchmark Nifty hit 21,000 mark just last week, the Sensex hit its 70,000 milestone in intraday deals today.

The benchmark surged 232 points in intra-day deals to its new peak of 70,057.83. This is the 5th session in December when the Sensex has hit its peak.

It has taken Sensex less than 6 months or around 107 sessions to rise from 65k levels to 70k. The index first crossed the 65k mark on July 3, 2023. In this current year, the benchmark has crossed multiple milestones from hitting 64k for the first time in June 2023 to breaching the 70k level for the first time today.

Meanwhile, Nifty50 also hit its new record high of 21,026.10, up 57 points, in intra-day deals. However, broader markets did not hit new peaks in trade today.

The rise comes after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 percent as expected and raised the FY24 GDP forecast to 7 percent from 6.5 percent earlier. However, it retained the FY24 CPI inflation forecast at 5.4 percent. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the central bank also retained its stance of remaining focused on “withdrawal of accommodation."

Apart from Friday's policy decision, continued foreign investor inflows, strong macro data, state election results and fall in crude oil prices as well as supporting global market trends have also lifted the index to its peak.

The index has already surged over 4 percent in December, giving negative returns in just 1 session of the current month so far. This comes after a 5 percent rise in November. Overall, in 2023 YTD, the index has gained almost 15 percent; meanwhile, in the last 1 year, it has advanced over 12 percent.