Mumbai: The benchmark Indian equities indices reached new highs on Friday, with the BSE Sensex surged to 55,215.44, up 371.46 points, while the Nifty zoomed 102.40 points to 16,466.80. The rise in Indian stock markets may be linked to inflation and IPP data.

According to data issued by the National Statistical Office, retail inflation fell to 5.59% in July from 6.26% in June, while the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) increased by 5.7% month over month and 13.6% year over year.

Top gainers on NSE included Tata Consumer Products, Bajaj Auto, Larsen & Toubro, TCS, and Hindalco. At the same time, the top losers were Eicher Motors, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, and Power Grid.

The Indian markets were rising even though Asian stocks sank on Friday as the delta Covid-19 variant spread and China's regulatory restrictions dampened sentiment. However, the US markets closed at another record high on Thursday.

All the indexes on BSE, including the BSE Midcap and smallcap indices, were trading in green. Nifty Midcap, Nifty bank, and Nifty financial services index were also in green.

Traders believe India's record-breaking market boom will continue, backed by expectations of continuing dovish monetary policy even as inflation fears grow.

Despite the economy's pandemic-related challenges, India's stock markets have experienced an infusion of retail investors.
Because of the low-interest-rate environment, retail involvement is likely to have increased.

Taking a clue from the stock market, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday asked the chieftains of India Inc. to hold the bull by its horn and requested them to come out in a big way, to take risks, to make decisions.

"Indians are just not looking at bank savings. They are investing in stock markets. The number of new Demat accounts shows that. We have a 3 lakh Demat account opening per month. People are now taking shares in companies that are managed well," said the Finance Minister.