Mumbai: Stock market benchmarks Sensex and Nifty stayed firm for the third consecutive day and ended with sharp gains on Wednesday, buoyed by massive buying in IT and consumer durables shares amid a rally in global equities markets. Traders said optimism over the anticipated resolution of the US government shutdown and growing expectations of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve also bolstered the sentiment. The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 595.19 points, or 0.71 per cent, to settle at 84,466.51. It gained up to 780.69 points or 0.93 per cent to hit an intraday high of 84,652.01. The broader NSE Nifty climbed 180.85 points, or 0.70 per cent, to close at 25,875.80. During the session, it jumped 239.6 points or 0.93 per cent to hit a high of 25,934.55.

“The Nifty extended its winning streak for the third consecutive session, rising 180 points to close at 25,875, supported by optimism over a potential trade deal with the United States. The index opened with a robust 140-point gap and sustained its upward momentum throughout the day. Additionally, exit polls indicating that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is poised to retain power in Bihar further lifted investor sentiment,” said Nandish Shah, Deputy Vice-President, HDFC Securities.

“Global equities rallied on renewed risk appetite, driven by optimism over the anticipated resolution of the US government shutdown and growing expectations of early Fed cuts amid signs of a cooling US labour market,” added Vinod Nair, head (research), Geojit Investments Ltd. The BSE largecap soared 0.63 per cent. Midcap gauge went up by 0.44 per cent, while smallcap closed 0.76 per cent higher. Ajit Mishra, sr V-P (research), Religare Broking, said: “The rally was fuelled by optimism over improving trade dialogue prospects between India and the US, coupled with encouraging Q2 earnings from key corporates that further lifted investor sentiment”.

Among sectoral indices, Focused IT climbed by 1.97 per cent, IT by 1.95 per cent, Services by 1.13 per cent, Teck 1.77 per cent, Consumer Durables by 1.86 per cent, Auto by 1.15 per cent, Telecommunication by 1.23 per cent, Consumer Discretionary by 1.09 per cent, Energy by 0.85 per cent, and Healthcare by 0.76 per cent.