Nifty surges nearly 20% since Covid's 2nd wave blues in April

MUMBAI: The Indian stock market has not just been on a bull run off late, but it has been scaling new highs. The Nifty50, which has crossed the 17,000 level, has witnessed a rise of around 20 per cent since the middle of April when the second wave of Covid-19 wreaked havoc in several parts of the country and lockdowns and curfews were re-imposed.

The country's financial capital, Mumbai, which houses the bellwether stock exchanges, came under a curfew from April 14 due to the surging number of Covid cases. Delhi was also put under lockdown starting April 20.

However, the Nifty50 has risen 19.4 per cent since its closing level of 14,504.80 points on April 13, 2021. On Friday, the Nifty closed at 17,323.60 points, its highest-ever closing level.

In its last trading session, it also touched its all-time high of 17,340.10 points.

On August 31, it hit the 17,000 mark for the first time in its history. It was the fastest 1,000-point gain for Nifty50 as it covered the journey from 16,000 to 17,000 in just 28 days.

The recent surge in the domestic stock market has been largely on the back of gradual easing of the lockdown and curfew measures, and improvement in economic activities.

India's GDP growth rate for the April-June quarter of FY22 was 20.1 per cent due to low base and accelerated economic activity. In 2020, the pandemic had battered the country's GDP, which had contracted by 24.4 per cent during Q1FY21.

Further, the receding impact of Covid, as well as the accelerated vaccination drive, have lifted the growth rate of India's services output in August, IHS Markit India Services PMI showed on Friday. The seasonally adjusted India Services Business Activity Index rose to 56.7 (index reading) in August as against a reading of 50 in July.

The GST collections have also been robust and remained above the psychological mark of Rs 1 lakh crore for the second consecutive month, clocking Rs 1,12,020 crore in August 2021.

The flow of foreign funds is also recovering post the impact of the pandemic in April-May, which should further boost the Indian equities.

So far in the first three trading days of September, net foreign portfolio investments into the equities stood at Rs 4,787 crore, as per NSDL data.

On Friday, the Nifty50 closed at 17,323.60, higher by 89.45 points, or 0.52 per cent, from its previous close.

The BSE Sensex also closed at its record high closing level of 58,129.95, higher by 277.41 points, or 0.48 per cent, from its previous close. (IANS)

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