Markets continue frenzy over 'growth-oriented' Budget

Investor wealth nears Rs 200-trillion mark

Markets continued to cheer the 'best' budget in a quarter century, as benchmark indices marked gains for the third day in a row after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2021-22.

The benchmark indices have rallied 9% in three days with both benchmarks reclaiming lifetime highs. This sort of reaction by markets was only seen after the 'dream budget' by P Chidambaram in 1997 when indices had rallied over 12%.

After touching its lifetime-high of 50,526.39, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended at a closing high of 50,255.75, up 458.03 points (0.92%). Similarly, broader index NSE Nifty closed at 14,789.95, up 142.10 points (0.97%).

"Sentiments have been changed completely after the Budget announcement as buying interest is visible across the street. All the sectoral indices contributed to the rally of the last three sessions. Market Breadth also turned strongly in favour of advancing counters, which certainly bodes well for the bulls," Jay Purohit Technical & Derivatives Analyst, MOFSL.

The rally was led by bank stocks, buoyed by the announcement of the formation of bad bank coupled with the government's plans to divest from the public sector lenders.

The analysts are expecting Nifty to touch another milestone of 15,000 in the coming days.

Interestingly, with Rs 12.32 trillion infusion of capital into the market in the last three days, the investor wealth in India stands at Rs 198.45 trillion -- just shy of Rs 200 trillion ($2.72 trillion).

Investor wealth surged to as much as Rs 199.34 trillion, just Rs 66,100 crore short of the historic mark, during intraday trading

After dropping by 36.5% in the bear run of March, investor wealth has surged by 94.8% since then. The investor wealth is represented by the sum of market capitalisation of all the listed companies in India.

Despite this record-shattering rally, Indian equity markets remain pygmies in the global scheme of things. Imagine this: the market-cap of Apple Inc alone stands $2.27 trillion -- just 17% short of m-cap of all listed companies in India.