Sensex closes above 66K-mark for the first time, Nifty tops 19,550

Sensex finally closed above the 66K mark for the first time ever. Why did this happen and how did this happen? I am going to tell you everything in today's ET Market Wrap. I am Neha Vashishth let's start with the highlights

-Sensex and Nifty both recorded fresh lifetimes highs today as IT stocks benefited from hopes that US Fed Reserve would pause rate hikes
-Fresh Foreign fund inflows also added to the rally
-Sensex rose 502 pts and closed above 66k mark
-Nifty surged 151 pts and closed above 19,500 mark

Gainers and losers
IT stocks such as TCS, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Tech, and Wipro were the top gainers — rising 3-5%. Tata Steel, Nestle, HUL, Asian Paints, and ICICI Bank also closed higher.
On the flip side, M&M, Power Grid, Titan, Maruti, UltraTech Cement, and Sun Pharma closed in the red.

Stocks in news today
JBM Auto shares closed over 11% higher after the company and its subsidiaries won orders for approximately 5,000 electric buses.

Shares of Patanjali Foods closed with a 5% upper circuit after OFS opens for retail investors today.

Sector-wise, Nifty IT advanced 4.45% and Nifty Media jumped 3.94%.

Banks, auto, financial, FMCG, metal, pharma, and realty sectors also closed with gains. In the broader market, Nifty Midcap100 gained 1.15%, and Smallcap100 rose 1.42%.

Global Markets
World stocks extended gains, however, the dollar held near 15-month lows
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 was an exception that lost earlier gains and ended down 0.1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.4% and the Shanghai Composite rose 0.1%.

Oil and Rupee
Both Brent crude futures and US WTI futures were trading slightly lower. Brent was down 11 cents to $81.24 while the WTI was trading 9 cents lower at $76.80.
The rupee weakened 0.11% versus the US dollar, and quoted at 82.16 per dollar.