By 
NEW DELHI: Equity indices scaled fresh record peaks on Monday amid strong global cues after the US presidential election results were finally decided, with Joe Biden the president-elect. Indian investors felt that the development will be positive for the domestic markets, at least in the short run.
The benchmark BSE sensex soared more than 650 points to hit an all-time high of 42,566; while the broader NSE Nifty traded near the 12,450-mark. Both BSE and NSE surged over 1.5 per cent in the initial trade.
Top gainers in the BSE pack included ICICI Bank, Infosys, HCL Tech, Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank with their stocks rising as much as 3.59 per cent. All the stocks in the 30-share BSE index were trading in green.
On the NSE platform, all the sub-indices were trading on a positive note with Nifty Private Bank and Bank up as much as 2.23 per cent.
Emerging markets including India are likely to see reasonable foreign fund flows during the Biden presidency, said ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund ED & CIO S Naren. “The absence of any big stimulus in the US is a positive for emerging markets. Data on emerging market flows for the last few days shows strong inflows into these markets.”
Analysts have also said that this week’s domestic market movement may largely depend on how participants react to Bihar election outcome, macroeconomic data release and global political developments.
Counting of votes for the three-phase Bihar assembly polls, which ended on Saturday, will be held on November 10.
“Exit polls indicate the possibility of hung assembly in Bihar. This is bit sentimental negative for the markets,” said Hemang Jani, head – Equity Strategist, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.
At Friday’s close of 41,893 points, the sensex was just 381 points, or 0.9 per cent, off its all-time peak of 42,274. The Nifty at 12,264 was 167 points, or 1.3 per cent, away from its highest ever mark. Foreign funds could again take the lead in driving the market higher, fund managers feel.
Data from CDSL and BSE showed that so far in November, FPIs have net pumped in over $1.6 billion into the Indian market by investing in equity, debt and other financial assets. In comparison, till October 31 this year, FPIs had recorded a net outflow of nearly $4.1 billion.
“Positive flows are usually sector-agnostic. So we could expect across-the-board buying due to positive foreign flows,” Naren, who manages assets worth about Rs 4 lakh crore, said. “For the US rally to sustain for long term, growth impulses need to pick up there.”
Apart from Biden’s policies, the US Fed’s dovish stance in terms of liquidity to revive the economy could also act as a tailwind for such flows, analysts said.
Market players also feel IT stocks could be the standout gainers, mainly because of Biden’s proposed liberal immigration policies relating to skilled labour. On the other hand, pharma companies are awaiting to see how the new administration’s policies relating to this sector pans out over the next few months.
Source From : Times Of India
