M-cap of BSE-listed firms reach all-time high of Rs 299.90 lakh cr

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms reached an all-time high of Rs 299.90 lakh crore on Wednesday despite the Sensex falling marginally after a remarkable record-breaking rally in the last few trading sessions.

The 30-share BSE Sensex dipped 33.01 points or 0.05 per cent to settle at 65,446.04, after rallying in the past five trading straight sessions.

During the day, the benchmark hit a low of 65,256.49 and a high of 65,584.33.

The BSE benchmark had jumped over 2,500 points in the past five sessions.

But, investor sentiments largely remained unfazed by the muted trend in equities during the day, with the market capitalisation (mcap) of BSE-listed firms scaling a lifetime peak of 2,99,90,050.73 crore.

The mcap of BSE-listed companies is Rs 9,949.27 crore away from the historic Rs 300 lakh crore mark.

Investors' wealth also climbed Rs 1.32 lakh crore from Tuesday.

From the Sensex pack, Maruti jumped 3.61 per cent, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever, ITC, ICICI Bank, Power Grid and Nestle were among the other major gainers.

HDFC Bank fell over 3 per cent and HDFC declined nearly 3 per cent.

Bajaj Finserv, Wipro, Tata Motors, UltraTech Cement, Axis Bank and NTPC were among the other laggards.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.68 per cent and smallcap index advanced 0.62 per cent.

Among the indices, FMCG jumped 1.71 per cent, auto rallied 1.62 per cent, oil & gas (1.04 per cent), consumer discretionary (0.86 per cent), energy (0.75 per cent) and services (0.68 per cent).

Financial Services, telecommunication and bankex were the laggards.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,603.15 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

"Overall we expect the market to consolidate with a positive bias in the near term, before taking flight to record high levels.

"All eyes will be on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes, which will give some insights into the US Fed's future course of action," Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said.