Markets on a high: Sensex crosses 60,000-mark for the first time ever, Nifty tops 17,900

The Sensex rallied over 350 points to hit the 60,000-mark for the first time in opening trade on Friday, led by strong gains in index majors Infosys, HDFC Bank and TCS. The 30-share Sensex was trading 359.29 points or 0.60 per cent higher at its lifetime high of 60,244.65. Similarly, Nifty soared 100.40 points or 0.56 per cent to its intra-day record of 17,923.35 in initial deals. It took little over 31 years for the Sensex to traverse from 1,000 points to the historic 60,000 level. The benchmark index was at 1,000 points back on 25 July 1990 and took nearly 25 years before it touched the 30,000 mark on 4 March, 2015.The Sensex has climbed from the 30,000 level to 60,000 in little over six years, reflecting the overall bullishness in the market. It took just eight months for the Sensex to cover the journey from 50,000 in January this year to scale the unprecedented 60,000 mark for the first time on Friday. Infosys was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over two per cent, followed by L&T, HCL Tech, Asian Paints, TCS, Tech Mahindra and HDFC Bank. On the other hand, NTPC, HUL, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv were among the laggards.In the previous session, the 30-share index zoomed 958.03 points or 1.63 per cent to end at an all-time high of 59,885.36, and Nifty soared 276.30 points or 1.57 per cent to its new closing high of 17,822.95. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 357.93 crore on Thursday, as per provisional exchange data. "Sensex has hit the 60,000-mark today. Reaching this milestone is quite an achievement in these COVID-19 times and a shot in the arm for bulls that are in total control of this market," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.According to Motilal Oswal, MD and CEO, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, "Equity market today had a historical day with Sensex touching 60,000 for the first time driven by large caps with many index heavyweights touching new highs.The rally in the domestic market is driven by positive global cues, strong inflows by FIIs/DIIs, good corporate earnings, falling COVID-19 cases, upbeat corporate commentaries and low cost of capital, he said.He further added that amid the buoyant sentiment and increased activity, valuations has reached elevated levels and demand consistent delivery on earnings expectations."Given rich valuations, one cannot ignore intermittent volatility. However, we expect the positive momentum to continue on the back of improving economic activity and recovery in corporate earnings," Oswal said. With inputs from PTI