Sensex surges over 950 points to hit fresh all-time high; Nifty trades near 21,200

Indian equity benchmarks rose sharply to hit their fresh all-time high levels in Thursday's trade. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack surged 955 points to hit a lifetime high of 70,540 while the broader NSE Nifty index moved 263 points up to touch a record high of 21,189.55. Broader market (small- and mid-cap shares) were also positive as Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.84 per cent and small-cap gained 1.13 per cent. India VIX, fear index, rose 3.23 per cent to 12.46-level.

The rise in shares of IT companies, which earn a significant share of their revenue from the US, comes after the Federal Reserve acknowledged it is making "real progress" in easing inflation, while maintaining a rate pause.

Fed chair Jerome Powell said the central bank is aware of the risks of keeping rates higher for too long and lowering them too late, bolstering expectations of a rate cut in early 2024.

Asian markets were mostly up today. Overnight, Wall Street equities settled with decent gains.

Back home, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought Indian shares worth Rs 4,710.86 crore on a net basis during the previous session while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 958.49 crore.

12 out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the NSE -- were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty IT, Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 3.01 per cent, 1.21 per cent and 1.26 per cent, respectively. However, Nifty Pharma, Nifty Healthcare and Nifty Media slipped.

On the stock-specific front, Tech Mahindra was the top gainer in the Nifty pack as the stock jumped 3.73 per cent to trade at Rs 1,261.5. HCL Tech, LTIMindtree, Wipro and Bajaj Finance gained up to 3.19 per cent.

In contrast, PowerGrid, BPCL, Cipla, Nestle India and Sun Pharma were among the top laggards.

The overall market breadth was positive as 2,199 shares were advancing while 765 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Infy, Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, Axis Bank and Bajaj Finance were among the top gainers.

Also, Sonata Software, Mastek, Adani Total Gas, Mphasis, HUDCO, Adani Green, Manappuram Finance and Zensar Technologies surged up to 8.19 per cent. On the flipside, Chambal Fertilisers, Hindustan Zinc, Nippon Life India Asset Management and Vedant Fashions fell up to 2 per cent.

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