Stock Market At New Highs: Sensex Tops 66K, Gains 600 Points; Nifty Around 19,550. All Sectors In The Green

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, TCS (1.98 per cent), Infosys, M&M, Tata Steel, TechM, Bajaj Finserv, Reliance were among the early gainers

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Thursday opened with strong gains tracking strength in global stock markets after the US consumer inflation showed a meaningful slowdown in June, sinking to 3 per cent, its lowest since March 2021. At 9.50 am, the BSE Sensex rose over 535 points to 65,929. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 gained 149 points to 19,533. Eventually the Sensex jumped over 600 points to breach the 66,000 mark, it's all-time high to date. The Nifty is also at record high, trading at 19,552, up 169 points in early trade.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, TCS (1.98 per cent), Infosys, M&M, Tata Steel, TechM, Bajaj Finserv, Reliance were among the early gainers. On the downside, PowerGrid, HCL, Maruti, Nestle, Sun Pharma, and NTPC emerged losers. Among specific stocks, Patanjali Foods slumped 5 per cent as its promoter Patanjali Ayurved launched an OFS to divest up to 9 per cent stake. The floor price for the OFS at Rs 1,000 per share is at a sharp discount.

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rose up to 0.6 per cent.

All the sectoral indices are trading in the green with metal, realty, and information technology indices up 1 per cent each.

In the previous session on Wednesday, the S&P BSE Sensex settled with a loss of 224 points at 65,394, while the NSE Nifty closed 55 points lower at 19,384.

Retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased to 4.81 per cent in June after declining for four months in a row but remained within the comfort zone of the Reserve Bank. "In India, though the June CPI inflation has increased to 4.81 per cent, this was expected since the prices of vegetables and milk had spiked. The positive number is the May IIP at 5.2 per cent, which indicates that the growth momentum in the economy is robust," Vijayakumar added.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong were trading in the green. The US markets ended in the positive territory on Wednesday. "The ongoing global rally in stock markets will get a further mild boost from the latest US consumer inflation for June which has come at 3 per cent, better than market expectation of 3.1 per cent," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.45 per cent to $80.47 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,242.44 crore on Wednesday after unabated buying, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated 21 paise to 81.97 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday, as a rally in domestic equities and losses in the greenback against major rivals overseas strengthened investor sentiment. Besides, encouraging macroeconomic data supported the local currency, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened sharply up at 81.98 against the dollar and then strengthened slightly to 81.97, registering a gain of 21 paise over its previous close. In the initial trade, the domestic unit was moving in a tight range of 81.95-81.99 against the American currency. In the previous session on Wednesday, the rupee had settled at 82.18 against the dollar.