How Sensex went from 1,000 to 60,000 in just over 31 years amid hope and despair

New Delhi: From hitting the 1,000-mark on 25 July, 1990 to reaching the 60,000-level for the first time on Friday, it has been a memorable journey for equity benchmark Sensex. It has taken a little over 31 years for the 30-share index to traverse from 1,000 level to 60,048.47 at close of trade on Friday. Over the years, the frontline index has reached many milestones. It touched the 10,000-mark for the first time on 6 February, 2006. On 29 October, 2007, it scaled the 20,000 level, and then on 4 March, 2015 surged above the 30,000-mark. The BSE benchmark scaled 40,000 on 23 May, 2019. The 50,000-mark was reached on 21 January, 2021. Interestingly, both the 50,000 and 60,000 levels have been breached in 2021, showing the resilience of the market after the pandemic-triggered crash in March 2020. “Sensex reaching 60,000 today first time ever on 24 September, 2021 is an indicator of India’s growth potential, as well as the way India is emerging as a world leader during COVID period in addition to worldwide monetary expansion and relaxed fiscal policies adopted by world powers. “Indian markets are considered the best performing markets world over in last 18 months of COVID period,” said Ashishkumar Chauhan, MD and CEO, BSE. He added that many more investors are also joining the stock markets directly or indirectly through mutual funds, thanks to automation in the markets, new age brokerages and low interest rates in india. “The increase in stock prices has been broad based in recent period. I take this opportunity to congratulate all Indians citizens and investors for this achievement,” Chauhan said. From witnessing the Harshad Mehta scam in 1992, to blasts in Mumbai and BSE building in 1993, Kargil war (1999), terror attacks in the US and Indian Parliament (2001), Satyam scam, global financial crisis, demonetisation, PNB scam and COVID-19, markets have faced many uncertainties over the years, as per a slide on the “Journey of Sensex” tweeted by Chauhan on Friday. Several healthy triggers have also played a major role in market uptrend, including commodity boom in global markets, global liquidity, COVID-19 vaccines approval and rollout of vaccination programme. The BSE benchmark index has gained 25.75 percent so far this year. The remarkable rally in the markets holds significance as equities had gone into a tailspin in March 2020, with the BSE benchmark sinking a massive 8,828.8 points or 23 percent during that month as concerns over the pandemic’s impact on the economy ravaged investor sentiments. The Sensex had gained 15.7 percent in 2020, after facing a roller-coaster ride during the pandemic-hit year. “The sentiment on D-street is bullish. A dip of a couple of per cent would be a good opportunity for traders and investors to enter. “We are witnessing broad-based buying from largecaps to midcaps, and smallcaps. The euphoria in the market is likely to continue. It may extend till January-February 2022. Though the volatility is likely to witness an uptick,” said Brijesh Bhatia, Senior Research Analyst at Equitymaster. Rupen Rajguru, Head of Equity, Investments and Strategy at Julius Baer said, “We remain constructive on the equity markets over the next 2 to 3 years to come, backed by strong economic rebound and better-than-expected corporate earnings.” “Having said that, considering the high valuations in some pockets… it is our view that investors should take this opportunity to re-balance their asset allocation and if the skew towards equity has gone up by sheer market appreciation then investors can book profits in equity and get back to the original debt-equity allocation,” he added. The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies has also been soaring and is currently at Rs 2,61,18,539.92 crore. Vinay Ahuja, Senior Managing Partner - IIFL Wealth said, “The markets have consistently been hitting all-time highs and invoking both feelings of euphoria and skepticism among investors.” In the current market movement, instead of just focusing on numbers that simply make good headlines, take a relook at your asset allocation and reassess your investment objectives, Ahuja added.