The Nifty on Monday hit a record high amid expectations of political stability and a resilient economy, while investors awaited the minutes of the meeting of the US Federal Reserve that will be released this week.

Led by financials and FMCG stocks, the benchmark indices continued their winning streak for the fifth consecutive session with the Sensex advancing 281.52 points or 0.39 per cent to close at 72708.16.

The broader NSE index finished at an all-time high of 22122.25, up by 81.55 points or 0.37 per cent.

In intra-day trades, the gauge also hit a lifetime high of 22186.65 helped by gains in pharma, banking and oil shares.

Market circles said the gains in equities are likely to continue on hopes of political stability with the Narendra Modi-government expected to win comfortably in the Lok Sabha elections.

They, however, pointed out that temporary hiccups due to valuation concerns and global factors should be seen as an opportunity to buy quality stocks.

Tata feat

The rally in some stocks has led to the Tata group creating a milestone.

An Economic Times report on Monday said its market capitalisation of $365 billion or Rs 30.3 trillion is more than the entire GDP of Pakistan. The IMF estimates Pakistan’s GDP to be worth $341 billion.

Some of the Tata group stocks that have seen a good rally in recent months include Tata Motors, Trent, Titan and Tata Power.

Recently, Reliance Industries Ltd saw its market cap cross Rs 20 lakh crore, the first listed Indian company to achieve the feat. It led to Reliance become on of the top 50 companies of the world by market capitalisation at the 49th position.

Sources said Reliance would be higher in the list at 43rd, if one includes the market cap of Jio Financial.

Shares of Reliance ended at Rs 2,946.15, a gain of 0.85 per cent over the last close, leading to a market cap of Rs 19.93 lakh crore

In trading on the broader market, the BSE Midcap rose 0.29 per cent, while the
BSE SmallCap gained 0.77 per cent.