The US Federal Reserve's dovish stance and forecasts of rate cuts in 2024 triggered rally across global stock market. The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Thursday hit their record highs, as S&P BSE Sensex closed with a gain of 930 points at 70,514. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 settled at 21,182, up 256 points.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, TechM, Infosys, Wipro, HCL, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj twins were among the prime gainers. On the downside, PowerGrid, Nestle, Titan, JSW Steel, Maruti, Tata Motors emerged losers.
In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices also hit fresh lifetime highs of 36,229 and 41,984, respectively, closing at 1 per cent and 0.6 per cent.
Sectorwise, the Nifty Realty index gained 4 per cent, the Nifty IT advanced 3.5 per cent, the Nifty Private Bank index jumped 1.5 per cent, while the Nifty Bank index rose 1.3 per cent.
In the previous session on Wednesday, the S&P BSE Sensex closed at 69,585, up 34 points, while the NSE Nifty50 shut shop at 20,926, up 20 points.
A total of 2,064 stocks advanced while 1,702 declined and 126 remained unchanged.
"The market continued its exuberance and hit a fresh high amid the dovish commentary from the Federal Reserve, signalling at least three rate cuts in 2024. Further, the sharp fall in US bond yields improved investors’ confidence. An upgrade in India’s GDP forecast, ease in global oil prices, and the RBI decision to clamp down inflation to the target level led to a broad-based rally with outperformance from Realty and IT," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
In Asian markets, Seoul and Hong Kong settled in positive territory, while Tokyo and Shanghai ended lower. European markets were trading in the green. The US markets ended with significant gains on Wednesday.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued to remain buyers as they bought equities worth Rs 4,710.86 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.74 per cent to $75.55 a barrel.
Meanwhile, the rupee recovered from all-time lows to close at 83.33 against the US dollar on Thursday, gaining 7 paise as the greenback weakened in the overseas markets following signals that rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve were over.
A stellar rally in domestic equities fuelled by foreign fund inflows also boosted the rupee sentiment. However, dollar buying by state-run banks and a rise in oil prices capped the rupee gains, forex traders said. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened strong at 83.30 against the last close of 83.40, the lowest closing level against the US dollar.