BSE sensex and NSE Nifty both hit record highs on Monday morning, with sensex crossing the 26,000 mark for the first time in history on Dalal Street's optimism about the Budget and also expectations about divestments of a host of PSUs over the next few months.

01 / 8

BSE sensex and NSE Nifty both hit record highs on Monday morning, with sensex crossing the 26,000 mark for the first time in history on Dalal Street's optimism about the Budget and also expectations about divestments of a host of PSUs over the next few months. (BCCL/Deepak Turbhekar)

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02 / 8

At 10am, the sensex was up 112 points at 26,074 while Nifty was up 27 points at 7,779. The rise is also helped by continuous FII buying. (PTI)

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03 / 8

Investors are optimistic that the forthcoming Budget on July 10 will aim at fiscal consolidation as the deficit and inflation are still at higher levels than warranted. They also expect divestment to pick up pace. (BCCL/Sanjay Hadkar)

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04 / 8

A recent Reuters story said that the government is expected to target nearly $12 billion from divestments this fiscal. FIIs have net pumped in nearly $10 billion in the equity market while the corresponding figure for the debt market is a little over $10 billion. (BCCL/Deepak Turbhekar)

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05 / 8

Market players expect the pace to quicken in the second half of the year. Corporate results are also expected to determine the market's direction over the next few weeks, dealers said. (BCCL)

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06 / 8

Among the gainers were Infosys, TCS and Wipro while among the laggards were HDFC Bank, ONGC and ITC. (BCCL/Prashant Nakwe)

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07 / 8

Finance minister Arun Jaitley recently expressed his discomfort about the high fiscal deficit and also the rate of inflation, and indicated populism will take a backseat in the Budget, which led to optimism that the Budget will be aimed at fiscal consolidation. (BCCL/Deepak Turbhekar)

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08 / 8

For long, one of the main demands by investors and corporates from the new government was fiscal consolidation and spelling out of the long term path for fiscal consolidation. (BCCL/Sanjay Hadkar)

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