Key barometers held firm near day's high in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 455.48 points or 1.19% at 38,707.28. The Nifty 50 index was up 128.30 points or 1.11% at 11,685.40. The Sensex and the Nifty, both, scaled fresh all-time highs in afternoon trade. The gains were supported by favourable global cues.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.03%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.76%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1,495 shares rose and 1,160 shares fell. A total of 180 shares were unchanged.
Auto stocks were in demand. TVS Motor Company (up 3.29%), Ashok Leyland (up 2.75%), Tata Motors (up 1.13%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 1.10%), Bajaj Auto (up 0.73%), Hero MotoCorp (up 0.37%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.23%) and Eicher Motors (up 0.05%), edged highjer. Escorts was down 0.25%.
Power generation stocks were in demand. Tata Power (up 6.42%), Torrent Power (up 5.18%), Reliance Infrastructure (up 2.98%), Adani Power (up 2.71%), CESC (up 1.47%), NTPC (up 1.07%), Reliance Power (up 0.74%), GMR Infrastructure (up 0.52%) and JSW Energy (up 0.51%), edged higher. NHPC (down 0.39%) and Jaiprakash Power Ventures (down 1.06%), edged lower.
State-run Coal India was up 1.17%. State-run Power Grid Corporation of India was up 3.46%.
Overseas, Asian and European stocks gained as investors react to comments from US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on the US central bank's policy tightening path. This also follows an announcement by China's central bank regarding the yuan's daily midpoint the same day.
In US, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite reached all-time highs on Friday as Netflix shares rose. Sentiment was also boosted by strong earnings and solid economic data being reported earlier last week.
Last Friday, Powell delivered a speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium in Wyoming, where leading central bankers met to discuss the future of monetary policy. He said "further, gradual" rate hikes were likely in the future, noting the economy is "strong" and able to withstand tighter monetary policy.
Powell's comments came hours after the People's Bank of China announced that it was tweaking its methodology for the fixing of the yuan's daily midpoint in an effort to stabilize the currency market.
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