Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ticked higher to close at fresh all-time high levels on Thursday, following buying in market heavyweights ICICI Bank, Infosys and TCS amid a largely positive trend in global equities.
The 30-share BSE Sensex scaled an intraday record high of 80392.64 in early trade. The index pared most of the gains later due to volatility and profit-taking by investors at record levels. Sensex closed 62.87 points or 0.08 per cent higher at 80049.67, its all-time closing high.
The broader Nifty also hit an intra-day record high of 24401 in early trade before closing almost flat. The 50-issue index rose by 15.65 points or 0.06 per cent to settle at a record 24302.15.
“The defensive bet on large caps like IT and pharma gained momentum due to the diminishing US inflationary pressure, improvement in QoQ earnings outlook and a resultant sharp fall in the US 10-year bond yield,” Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, said.
“The buoyancy in government spending and the green shoots in corporate earnings are now supporting the premium valuation. Return of FIIs to the domestic market and expectation of a rate cut in September are supporting market sentiment.”
In the broader market, the BSE Smallcap gauge jumped 0.62 per cent and the midcap index climbed 0.60 per cent.
Foreign portfolio investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹5,483.63 crore on Wednesday.
Fed minutes
US Federal Reserve officials at their last meeting acknowledged the US economy appeared to be slowing and that “price pressures were diminishing,” but still counseled a wait-and-see approach before committing to interest rate cuts, according to minutes of the two-day session held on June 11-12.
The minutes, which were released on Wednesday, noted in particular a weak May reading in the consumer price index as one among “a number of developments in the product and labor markets” that supported a view that inflation was in decline.
Still, “they did not expect that it would be appropriate to lower the target range for the federal funds rate until additional information had emerged to give them greater confidence”.
