Late surge recoups early losses

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty shot up nearly one per cent on Thursday, driven by buying in HDFC Bank and Infosys and a rally in the US and Asian markets. In a highly volatile trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 676.69 points or 0.93 per cent to settle at 73,663.72 points. During the day, it hit a high of 73,749.47 and a low of 72,529.97 points. The NSE Nifty surged 203.30 points or 0.92 per cent to 22,403.85 points. “The domestic market experienced a late surge, driven by strong global trends that pointed to lower-than-expected US consumer inflation figures, which suggests at least two interest rate cuts in 2024,” said Vinod Nair, head (research), Geojit Financial Services.

“The market exhibited volatility during trading hours, but managed to gain nearly one per cent, indicating a continuation of its recovery trend. Positive global cues led to a gap-up opening in the Nifty. However, the initial gains diminished quickly as the session progressed. Subsequently, it witnessed sharp fluctuations on both sides before settling near the day’s peak,” said Ajit Mishra – Sr V-P (research), Religare Broking Ltd.

In the broader market, the BSE mid-cap gauge climbed 1.07 per cent and small-cap index rallied 0.85 per cent. Among the indices, capital goods jumped 2.05 per cent, followed by industrials (1.99 per cent), teck (1.66 per cent), realty (1.59 per cent), IT (1.55 per cent), telecommunication (0.99 per cent) and healthcare (0.70 per cent).