FINAL TRADE: Indices end at fresh closing peaks; Sensex soars 1,197 pts, Nifty50 leaps to 22,968

Stock market today: Domestic equity benchmarks Nifty50 and Sensex hit a record closing high on Thursday, May 23 as the bulls once again took charge of Dalal Street after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s hefty dividend to the government boosted financials amid hopes of an improvement in the country's fiscal deficit. 

The Sensex rose 1,196.98 points or 1.61 per cent to settle at 75,418.04 after scaling an all-time high of Rs 75,499.91. Meanwhile, Nifty50 added 369.85 points or 1.64 per cent to settle at 22,967.65 after scaling all-time highs of 22,993.6 in intraday trade respectively. The 50-scrip index crossed the psychologically important level of 22,900 for the first time.

Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), Eicher Motors, and Axis Bank were the top gainers in the Nifty 50 basket. Sun Pharma, Power Grid, Hindalco, Coal India, and NTPC, were the top losers. Among the Nifty companies, 44 stocks were advancing while six stocks were declining.

"The headline index posted a record gain, with leading sectors such as banking and automotive outperforming. The RBI's record dividend is akin to an indirect rate cut, and is expected to reduce bond yields," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services said. 

The high-beta Nifty Bank index, whose 12 constituents include SBI, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank, jumped over two per cent to close at 48,768.6. Meanwhile, Nifty Financials servies, the heaviest-weighted sector in the Nifty 50 index, rose 1.9 per cent.

The domestically focussed Nifty SmallCap 100 and Nifty MidCap100 were up 0.19 per cent and 0.48 per cent, respectively.

"The broader market remained buoyant, aided by the composite HSBC PMI data for May, which indicated strong expansion. Early onset of southwest monsoon has provided a boost to the domestic market, which was underperforming in the last 2 months to other emerging markets," he added. 

Among individual stocks, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries stock fell 2.71 per cent after the drug maker missed Q4 revenue estimates. Power Grid Corporation of India shares lost 2.07 per cent after reporting a drop in Q4 profit. Both were the top Nifty 50 losers.

Global Market 

European stocks rose on Thursday after forecasts from AI darling Nvidia lifted global chipmakers. Last seen, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.32 per cent. 

(This story will be updated shortly.)

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