Sensex seen breaching 25k in a yr Index Hits New Peak At 22,041 | Goldman Forecasts 17% Gain For Markets

Mumbai: On a day when Goldman Sachs, the global financial major, upgraded the Indian market to overweight with an estimated 17% rally in 12 months, the sensex climbed to a new life high but closed nearly flat because of profit-taking. The day’s session also saw the Maruti stock rallying to close with a 7.6% gain after the company decided to ask its minority shareholders for their say if the proposed Gujarat plant should be under the company or its parent Suzuki Motor Corp. 

    Tracking global markets which rallied on defusing tension in Ukraine, in early trades the sensex touched a new all-time peak at 22,041 but profit-taking at higher levels pulled it down below the 22k and the index finally settled at 21,833, up just 23 points. Other than Maruti, SBI and ITC led the gainers while Tata Motors and M&M were among the laggards. 
    On Tuesday, Goldman Sachs said that it was upgrading India’s ratings to overweight and said that the nifty index is expected to touch 7,600 in the next 12 months, an upside of nearly 17% from the current levels. If one extrapolates the same on sensex, the index should see a new peak at around 25,500 points in the next one year. 
    The day’s gains were again backed by foreign fund buying with net FII inflow for the day at Rs 1,012 crore, BSE data showed. In the last one month, FIIs were net buyers in all but one session, taking the year’s aggregate net inflow figure to about $1.5 billion, Sebi and market data showed. With the Goldman upgrade, more FII money is expected to flow into the market, institutional dealers said. One of the main reasons for this optimism is the expectation that after a new government is formed in mid-May, there would be decisions that would help pace up the currently slowing economy. 
    Technically too, the market is poised for an upmove. “We have been seeing that nifty is struggling to overcome the resistance barrier around 6,600 but it also has strong cushion at 6,350 on the downside. Despite prevailing consolidation phase, we uphold our positive bias and advise to continue with buy on dips approach,” said Jayant Manglik, presidentretail distribution, Religare Securities. On the sectoral front, preference should be given to metal, FMCG, select banking counters for short term buying, Manglik said in a note on the market. 
PSU ETF draws 835cr bids from anchor investors on Day 1 
New Delhi: Seven anchor investors put in bids worth Rs 835 crore in the CPSE Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) that was launched on Tuesday to help the government meet its disinvestment target. The non-anchor portion will open on Wednesday and close on Friday. 
    The anchor investors were Bharti AXA, General Insurance Corp, LIC, National Insurance Corp, SBI, New India Assurance and United India Insurance, Goldman Sachs AMC, the managers to the fund disclosed on its website late on Tuesday. The government had reserved Rs 900 crore for anchor investors, or those bidding for more than Rs 10 crore of shares. 
    The new fund offer of the CPSE ETF, through which the government aims to garner Rs 3,000 crore, opens for retail and other investor categories on Wednesday and closes on March 21. AGENCIES