PremiumThe Indian market continued to climb higher today supported by positive global cues as US Fed Chair Jerome Powell signalled slower hikes in interest rates.
Sensex closed at 63,284, a gain of 185 points. Nifty ended above 18,800, at 18,812, a jump of 52 points. Sensex crossed 63,400 points intraday.
Major markets in the US and Asia rejoiced the Fed's early Christmas gift. The possibility of China announcing relief in Covid-19 curbs also boosted the market sentiment.
Domestically, an in-line GDP print for the September quarter also bolstered investors' confidence in the Indian economy. The Indian economy grew 6.3 percent in the September quarter of FY23.
“Nifty after registering fresh all time highs on Dec 01, closed off the all-time highs, though rising for the eighth consecutive day. Nifty closed 0.29% or 54.2 points higher at 18812.5. Broad market indices outperformed. IT stocks came back in favour on value buying. Encouraging PMI manufacturing number for November (55.7) also helped sentiments," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.
Today's rally was led by PSU banks, IT and Media indices which gained more than 2% each followed by Metal and Realty, each of them adding more than a percent. Oil & Gas, FMCG and Auto remained under pressure.
UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel, Hindalco, TCS and Grasim were the top Nifty gainers. On the other hand, the losers were ICICI Bank, Eicher Motors, UPL, Cipla and Bajaj Auto.
The BSE midcap and smallcap index added 0.6 percent each.
Meanwhile, Indian rupee closed 21 paise higher at 81.21 per dollar on Thursday.
"Nifty is now showing signs of running out of steam for the time being. 18,888 could be a tough resistance to cross while 18,678 could offer support in the near term," said Jasani.
On BSE, 2,076 stocks advanced while 1,408 declined and 152 were unchanged. Meanwhile, 156 scrips hit their 52-week high.
The overall market-capitalisation of all BSE-listed companies stood at ₹2,89 lakh crore versus ₹288.5 lakh crore on November 30.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) pumped in ₹36,239 crore in the Indian equities in the month of November, according to NSDL data.