India’s benchmark stock indices soared to new record highs on Thursday, riding on a global rally in equities triggered by Wednesday’s surprise dovish pivot by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Led by technology stocks, the S&P BSE Sensex surged 1.34% to 70,514.20, an all-time high. The top Sensex gainers included Tech Mahindra that rose 3.91%, Infosys (3.61%), Wipro (3.52%), HCL Tech (3.27%) and IndusInd Bank (2.97%).
The NSE Nifty-50 index rose 1.23% to 21,182.70 points.
“Thanks to the dovish narrative from the U.S. Fed… the Nifty 50 scaled to an all-time high level and crossed the 21,100 mark for the first time,” said Pranav Haridasan, MD and CEO, Axis Securities.
“Several factors contributed to this rally. There was a nearly 100 basis points decrease in U.S. 10-year bond yields from their recent peak. The status quo maintained by the RBI, with a positive revision in FY24 GDP… to 7%, sequential improvement in the high-frequency indicators, and robust earnings growth expectations, contributed to this momentum,” he said.
“The election results in three out of four key States have raised the expectations of policy continuity in 2024, boosting market confidence,” Mr. Haridasan observed. “We can see a further new high in the market if the bond yields and the crude prices remain at the same levels for the entire month,” he added.
”Nifty surged 256 points after the U.S. FOMC signaled slower growth and lower inflation,” said Devarsh Vakil, Deputy Head Retail Research, HDFC Securities. “U.S. stocks rallied Wednesday, sending the Dow Jones to a record high close, after the Federal Reserve concluded its policy meeting with no change in benchmark rates and indicated it could lower rates about three times in 2024 as inflation eases,” he added.
NSE cash market volumes were higher as compared with recent averages. Infosys. contributed the most to the index gains, Mr. Vakil noted.
Among sectors, Nifty Realty, IT and Bank gained the most while Media, Healthcare and Consumer Durables ended mildly in the red. Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices also registered fresh all-time highs. Advancing shares outnumbered the declining shares for the second day in the row as advance to decline ratio stood at 1.21 on the BSE, he added.