Sensex Hits New High, Nifty Crosses 25,000 on Fed Rate Cut Hopes

Mumbai, Aug 1 (PTI) Benchmark Sensex advanced 126 points to close at an all-time high while broader Nifty scaled the historic 25,000 mount for the first time in a volatile trade on Thursday following gains in banking and oil shares as the US Federal Reserve hinted at a rate cut by September.

Extending its winning run to the fifth day in a row amid weak global trends, the 30-share Sensex climbed 126.21 points or 0.15 per cent to settle at a new lifetime high of 81,867.55. The index opened higher and rallied 388.15 points, or 0.47 per cent, to hit an all-time intra-day high of 82,129.49 in the morning session.

The NSE Nifty rose 59.75 points or 0.24 per cent to settle at an all-time closing high of 25,010.90. Intraday, it scaled the record 25,000 level for the first time, rising 127.15 points, or 0.50 per cent, to 25,078.30.

From the Sensex stocks, Power Grid, NTPC, HDFC Bank, Nestle India, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Maruti Suzuki India and Reliance Industries were the major gainers.

In contrast, Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro and Tata Motors were the laggards.

"The benchmarks started positive taking cues from the global market following the Fed Chair's indication that a rate cut might be considered at the September meeting due to easing inflationary pressures.

"However, the broader market closed on a negative bias due to escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East leading to rising crude oil prices," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said.

The BSE smallcap gauge fell 0.70 per cent and MidCap by 0.80 per cent in the broader market. During the day, BSE MidCap hit its all-time high level.

Among the indices, utilities zoomed by 2.04 per cent, power by 0.86 per cent, energy by 0.80 per cent, oil & gas by 0.59 per cent and metal by 0.35 per cent.

Realty, capital goods, industrials, auto, telecommunication, and consumer discretionary were among the laggards.

"Indian equity indices rose for the fifth consecutive session. Indian markets opened higher on the back of positive cues from US markets where FOMC Chair Jerome Powell said a cut as early as September was a possibility," Devarsh Vakil, Deputy Head Retail Research of HDFC Securities, said.

Maruti Suzuki India shares settled 1 per cent higher after the homegrown automobile major reported a 47 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 3,650 crore for the June quarter. During the day, the stock hit a 52-week high on the bourse.

Shares of Omaxe declined 5 per cent -- its lower circuit limit -- in the second straight day following Sebi restrictions on the realty firm, its Chairman, the MD, and three others from the securities market for two years for misrepresenting the company's financials.

AsterDM Healthcare scrip jumped 6.28 per cent after the company reported a net profit of Rs 5,152.2 crore for the first quarter ended June.

Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities said overnight gains in the US markets and ongoing optimism over the strong corporate earnings aided benchmark indices to scale fresh all-time highs with Nifty clocking the milestone of 25k mark and Sensex entering the 82k zone.

However, weak European market cues and mixed Asian indices tempered the domestic market gains at close.

"Overall trading session was skewed with most of the broader and sectoral indices faltering amid profit-taking whereas metals, oil & gas and power stocks notched up gains, indicating that investors are now getting into cherry picking of stocks instead of mounting full-fledged bullish bets," he added.

Sector-wise, capital goods and realty were impacted by profit-booking coupled with auto sectors owing to below-expected monthly auto sales figures, Nair added.

In Asian markets, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong closed in the negative territory, while Seoul ended in the green.

The European markets were quoting lower in the mid-session deals on Thursday. The US stocks settled in the green territory in overnight trade on Wednesday.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital markets on Wednesday and offloaded shares worth Rs 3,462.36 crore, according to exchange data.

On Wednesday, the 30-share BSE Sensex settled higher by 285.94 points or 0.35 per cent at 81,741.34 -- its all-time closing high -- while NSE Nifty rose 93.85 points or 0.38 per cent to close at an all-time high of 24,951.15.