The Sensex and Nifty soared nearly 1% on Friday, reaching new lifetime highs driven by robust gains in IT stocks and hopes of a US Federal Reserve rate cut. The BSE Sensex jumped 622 points (0.78%) to a record closing level of 80,519.34. Intra-day, it hit an all-time high of 80,893.51, up 996.17 points (1.24%). The NSE Nifty surged 186.20 points (0.77%) to close at a record 24,502.15. During the day, it peaked at 24,592.20, up 276.25 points (1.13%).
Weekly gains
Sensex: Up 522.74 points (0.65%).
Nifty: Up 178.3 points (0.73%).
Key drivers
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, attributed the market rally to multiple factors including strong TCS earnings, lower US inflation, and increasing prospects of a US rate cut in September.
Major movers
Top gainers: Tata Consultancy Services (+7%), Infosys, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, JSW Steel, Bajaj Finance, Larsen & Toubro.
Lagging Stocks: Maruti, Asian Paints, Titan, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank.
Sector performance
Advancing sectors: IT (+4.32%), Teck (+3.29%), Energy (+0.13%), Bankex (+0.10%), Services (+0.06%).
Declining sectors: Realty, Power, Metal, Utilities, Auto, Industrials, Consumer Discretionary.
Market sentiment
Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities, noted that IT stocks led the market gains, spurred by TCS’s impressive Q1 results. Additionally, global markets were mixed, with positive sentiment from US inflation data indicating potential rate relief.
Global markets and oil prices
Asian markets: Shanghai and Hong Kong closed higher; Seoul and Tokyo ended lower.
European Markets: Trading higher in mid-session.
US markets: Mostly lower on Thursday.
Oil prices: Brent crude up 0.78% at USD 86.13 a barrel.
Foreign investment
FIIs offloaded equities worth Rs 1,137.01 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
Economic outlook
Krishna Appala, Senior Research Analyst at Capitalmind Research, highlighted optimism around the US inflation data and expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts. He also noted positive market sentiment ahead of the budget session, with a focus on infrastructure, defense, railways, and green energy.
Previous session
On Thursday, the Sensex had closed 27.43 points lower (0.03%) at 79,897.34, while the Nifty edged down 8.50 points (0.03%) to settle at 24,315.95.
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