Fewer Stocks Drove Nifty To Its Record High This Time

The Nifty 50 index may be trading near record highs but the market breadth, or the difference between advances and declines, is less than half compared to March 2015 when the index last breached 9,000.

Gainers outnumbered losers by seven when the Nifty 50 index hit a lifetime high last week, down from 16 for the week-ended March 1, 2015.

The number of stocks that rose exceeded the ones that declined by three in two weeks to the latest peak against 42 the last time.

The Nifty rally this year was largely led by Reliance Industries Ltd., which gained over 20 percent in the month prior to the index hitting the record. Asian Paints Ltd. and BHEL Ltd. followed, rising 10 percent each.

Gains were more evenly spread in 2015 across HDFC Ltd., Lupin Ltd., Ambuja Cements Ltd., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. and Infosys Ltd., all of which rose between 7 and 15 percent in the month to the peak.

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