Nifty crosses 22K for first time after six days of gains

New Delhi, February 20

The 30-share Benchmark Sensex as well as the 50-company Nifty recorded the sixth straight day of gains due to buying in banking and FMCG shares on Tuesday.

Sensex closed higher by 349.24 points to settle at 73,057.40 with 18 of its shares ending with gains. Power Grid’s shares jumped on news of fresh capital investments by the PSU while banks that had seen pressure last month, also gained. Among them were HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, IndusInd Bank and ICICI Bank. Among FMCG companies, the gainers were Nestle and Hindustan Unilever. However, IT stocks continue to witness pressure and even names such as TCS, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, Infosys and Wipro could not escape the bearish trend.

The 50-company Nifty also rose 74.70 points on Tuesday to settle at a new record of 22,196.95. The opening was lukewarm but shares rallied during the day enabling the Nifty to end the day at a new lifetime peak. However, when viewed over the entire month, Nifty has been oscillating on a high plateau. After the reverberation of the interim Budget had died down, Nifty on February 2 was at 21,182.70 points. In other words, in the last 18 days Nifty has gained 14 points. Foreign Portfolio Investors were net sellers as they offloaded shares worth Rs 754.59 crore, according to exchange data quoted by agencies.

IPO tally hit 6-year high in 2023

As many as 243 companies were listed on Indian bourses in the year ended December 31, 2023, the highest annual tally in at least six years, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. The aggregate transaction value of the IPOs in 2023, however, fell more than 9% to $7.10 billion, dragged down by the absence of big-ticket listings