Investor wealth jumps over Rs 3 trillion amid stock market rally

Investors' wealth surged by more than Rs 3 lakh crore in morning trade on Wednesday amid bullish market sentiments and the Reserve Bank deciding to leave key interest rate unchanged for the ninth consecutive time.

With reports that the new COVID variant Omicron is unlikely to be more severe than the Delta variant, an overall positive sentiment persisted in the global markets.

Sustaining the momentum, the 30-share Sensex was up more than 767 points to 58,401.12 points at around 11 am.

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies, a notional indicator of investors' wealth, climbed to little over Rs 2.63 lakh crore. The surge reflects the notional wealth of investors rising by over Rs 3 lakh crore compared to the closing level on Tuesday.

The broader Nifty index gained more than 220 points to 17,401.20 points in the morning trade.

Most of the Asian markets, including Japan and Singapore, recorded gains in stock market.

After the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintained status quo on the interest rate and decided to continue with its accommodative stance, most of the rate sensitive stocks remained in the green.

The BSE Bankex index was trading 1.23 per cent higher while the BSE Auto index gained nearly 1 per cent. The exchange's realty index jumped 1.65 per cent.

RBI's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to leave repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent for the ninth time in a row as well as continue with its accommodative stance in the backdrop of Omicron concerns.

The reverse repo rate will also continue to earn 3.35 per cent for banks for their deposits kept with RBI.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said MPC voted unanimously for keeping interest rate unchanged and decided to continue with its accommodative stance as long as necessary to support growth and keep inflation within the target.

RBI retained its growth projection at 9.5 per cent for the current fiscal despite concerns over Omicron.