India’s benchmark Sensex Index hit the 37,000-mark for the first time on Thursday and the Nifty 50 Index also touched an all-time high driven by optimism that earnings growth will pick up further because of favourable government policies. Normal monsoon so far also boosted the sentiment. India’s south west monsoon has recovered in the past week. The cumulative deficit has, by 23 July, narrowed to 2% of the long-term average from -9% earlier in the month.

BSE Sensex rose 156 points, or 0.4%, to a fresh record high of 37,014.65, while National Stock Exchange’s Nifty 50 gained 0.4% to all time high of 11,172.20. Last time, the Nifty 50 hit an intraday record high on 29 January.