Stock markets: As the Sensex and Nifty scaled their all-time high levels following a rally in global markets amid moderating US CPI inflation data, benchmark equity indices rebounded in early trade on Thursday.
Buying in market heavyweight Tata Consultancy Services also helped markets to trade in the positive territory. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 391.48 points to 65,785.38 in early trade. The NSE Nifty went up by 111.3 points to 19,495.60.
Later, both benchmark indices hit their respective all-time high levels. The Sensex hit its lifetime high of 65,943.57 and the Nifty reached an all-time peak of 19,540.25. From the Sensex pack, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys, JSW Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India and HDFC Bank were among the major gainers.
TCS quoted 1.62 per cent higher a day after announcing its June quarter earnings. The country's largest IT services company on Wednesday reported 16.83 per cent increase in June quarter net profit to Rs 11,074 crore but sounded circumspect about growth prospects for the fiscal due to market uncertainties.
Power Grid, HCL Technologies, Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever, Maruti and Nestle were among the laggards. Shares of HCL Technologies were trading over 1 per cent lower even after the company reported a 7.6 per cent year-on-year rise in June quarter net profit on the back of new order wins.
How did Asian, US markets fare?
In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading in the green. The US markets ended in 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.
Retail inflation rose to a three-month high in June on rising prices of kitchen essentials, while the factory output expanded at a faster pace of 5.2 per cent in May, according to the government data released on Wednesday. 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.
Rupee gains against dollar
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.
(With inputs from PTI)
