Share Market Today: Sensex Soars 627 Points; Nifty Hit 24,800. IT Index Jumps 2 Per Cent

Share Market Today: On the 30-share Sensex platform, TCS became the lead gainer rising 3.33 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finserv, M&M, Infosys, HUL, TechM

Share market today: The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Thursday pushed to record high levels, mostly following a surge in IT stocks. The Sensex index topped the 81,000-mark for the first time, while the NSE Nifty50 crossed 24,800 during intra-day trading. The BSE Sensex surged 627 points to 81,343, while the NSE Nifty50 settled at 24,801, up 188 points. 

Stock update

On the 30-share Sensex platform, TCS became the lead gainer rising 3.33 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finserv, M&M, Infosys, HUL, TechM. On the down side, Asian Paint, JSW Steel, NTPC, Adani Ports, PowerGrid, Tata Steel were among the losers.

About 1192 shares advanced, 2194 shares declined, and 75 shares unchanged.

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices declined 0.99 per cent and 1.15 per cent, respectively.

Sectoral update

Sectorally, Nifty IT index advanced 2.2 per cent, ending above the 40,000-mark. This was followed by Nifty Financial Services index rising 0.57 per cent, while the Nifty Media index dropped 3.57 per cent.

Stock markets were closed on Wednesday on account of Muharram.

In the previous session on Tuesday, the BSE benchmark climbed 52 points to end at a new lifetime high of 80,716, while on the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 jumped 26 points to close at an all-time closing high of 24,613.

Rupee sinks 6 paise

Rupee fell 6 paise and settled at its all-time low of 83.64 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday, as the strength of the American currency in the overseas market and overnight surge in crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiments.

Forex traders expect the rupee to trade with a slight negative bias on strong US dollar and weak Asian as well as European currencies. The US dollar strengthened, while the pound weakened amid disappointing labour market data from the UK. However, positive domestic markets and foreign fund inflows cushioned the downside in the domestic unit to a certain extent.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 83.57, and touched an intraday high of 83.55 and a low of 83.66 against the dollar during the trading session. It finally settled at 83.64 (provisional) against the American currency, registering a loss of 6 paise from its previous close.