Sensex at 50,000: From Nilesh Shah to Madhu Kela, here’s what market experts have to say

A historic day for Indian markets as Sensex conquers the 50,000 mark, delivering almost 100 percent returns in a roaring one-way rally since the March lows.

Here’s what market experts have said on the Sensex journey towards the 50,000 mark:

“SENSEX is a journey, when I started my career 3,000, 5,000 SENSEX was considered a great achievement. Today we are at 50,000 and I am sure we will eventually cross much higher numbers in the years to come. Part of this rally is driven by liquidity, but when we looked at September quarterly results, it was the highest ever quarterly profit in India Inc’s history. The market is looking at the future positively, but December quarterly results will determine whether this is liquidity-driven rally or backed by fundamentals.”

Taher Badshah of Invesco MF: “We have maintained this view that the overall set up for equity markets, in general, is still recently okay. Many of the market participants and investors get carried away by the fact that we were at 7,500 and now we are closer to 15,000, therefore the market will look optically expensive compared to what it was about 12 months ago. We need to see the overall market in totality and not necessarily get carried away by one metric or a couple of metrics on valuations. Market, in its own wisdom, did the right thing at 7,500 and is doing the right thing at 15,000 as well in my view because there have been positive upshots as well out of the pandemic. Many of the conditions which are surrounding it are getting constructive, it is for the first time in a long time that we think finally earnings upgrades should take hold and should deliver as well.”

Ajay Srivastava, CEO of Dimensions Corp: “I think it is a great moment for positives, it is not about being 50,000, it is a great moment for people who are being positive towards life, market, economy, policies everything put together. It is important to understand that it is not the timing of the market, but the timing of the stock is important. The key is are you in the stocks of tomorrow or are you in the stocks of yesterday and that is the key distinction that will come in the next two-three years. The key thing is to keep moving with the way the world is moving or you are going to be left behind in the market.”

Madhu Kela, market veteran: “Longer-term, medium-term India journey continues. We have had a very steep rise from 7,500 Nifty in March to 15,000 now. So it will suffice to say that there will be correction and people who were first waiting when the market will rise, now those are the people desperately waiting for the correction now. The market is not obliging at all. So this is clearly climbing the wall of worry. Even if there is a correction—which will happen at some time—I don’t see any crash in the market. So there could be a correction of 10-15 percent but looking at the liquidity and the way corporate results are, they have beaten most optimistic numbers which were there on the street.”

Nilesh Shah of Envision Capital: “These are historic highs and these are not just highs in terms of levels, but these are highs in terms of multiples and valuations, these are highs in terms of record liquidity that we have been receiving from global investors. So in a way, it is not just about the level of 50,000 but it is also about basically levels on many other parameters. Obviously, of course, at these kinds of levels, we are factoring in liquidity sustaining and flows continuing as well as basically the actions of the policymakers will continue to sustain and there would not be any kind of rollback of the kind of liquidity which is got infused into in the whole of 2020. So there are of course - whether these levels are going to sustain or not is going to hinge a lot more on these things, but my sense is from here onwards I think it is over to corporate India, corporate India will need to basically deliver because the markets are building in significant expectations.”