Mumbai: Equity markets soared to a record high on Wednesday rallying over 1 per cent as Asian stocks hit a 10-year high amidst an improvement in the global growth prospects.
On the domestic side, India’s huge jump of 30 notches in World Bank’s ease of doing business rank also bolstered sentiments as it is likely to positively impact FDI inflows and economic growth.
The Nifty jumped 105.20 points or 1.02 per cent to close at a new all-time high of 10,440.50. The Sensex rose 387.14 points or 1.17 per cent to end the day at 33,600.27.
“This jump in rank will spread positive vibes among investors around the world which will subsequently impact FDI inflows, GDP growth and spread on credit default swap (CDS), a possible proxy of the country risk. The 5-year CDS spread had shown a concomitant decline in many countries, which have witnessed an improvement in ease of doing business rank,” noted Soumya Kanti Ghosh, group chief economic advisor, SBI.
“In the countries like Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Colombia, South Africa and Saudi Arabia where rank has deteriorated in the last 5 years, there are visible signs of GDP slowdown and negative FDI inflows,” he added.
On Wednesday, the banking sector once again stole the limelight with SBI, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank posting robust gains of 4.58 per cent, 4.42 per cent and 2.56 per cent respectively.
Bharti Airtel was the biggest gainer among the Sensex constituents up 8.19 per cent, after it reported better than expected numbers.
Additionally, reports about private equity firm Bain Capital picking up a 10 per cent stake in Axis Bank led to a 2 per cent rise in its share prices while the government’s approval to sell its entire stake in Dredging Corporation of India triggered a 20 per cent surge in its share prices.
According to the provisional data released by the stock exchange, foreign portfolio investors bought shares worth Rs 1,038.31 crore.
