Sensex, Nifty surge to new highs ahead of Fed rate decision

MUMBAI: Indian stock markets continued their upward swing on Tuesday too, with the Sensex closing above the 83,000 mark for the first time and the Nifty scaling new heights, settling above 25,400 points.

The gains were driven by strong global trends and investor optimism ahead of the much-anticipated US Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision.

The BSE Sensex climbed 90.88 points, or 0.11 per cent, to close at a record high of 83,079.66, extending its record-setting streak for a second consecutive day.

Highest ever closing

During the trading session, the index touched an intra-day peak of 83,152.41. Meanwhile, the Nifty 50 gained 34.80 points or 0.14 per cent to close at 25,418.55, marking its highest-ever closing level.

Key gainers among the Sensex 30 include Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan, and Reliance Industries.

On the flip side, stocks like Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Adani Ports, and JSW Steel were the biggest laggards.

Investor sentiment was buoyed by hopes that the US Federal Reserve may begin a rate-cutting cycle.

“While a 25-basis point cut is largely expected, the Fed’s commentary on the health of economy and its future policy trajectory will be critical,” a financial analyst noted.

Range-bound

The trading session was largely range-bound, with the realty and auto sectors seeing notable gains, while metal and pharma stocks ended in the red, according to Ajit Mishra, Senior VP, Research at Religare Broking Ltd.

In broader market action, the BSE small-cap index dipped 0.13 per cent, and the mid-cap index edged lower by 0.08 per cent. However, sectoral indices such as realty (+0.64 per cent), telecom (+0.46 per cent), utilities (+0.44 per cent), and auto (+0.33 per cent) outperformed, while commodities, industrials, and metal stocks lagged.

International markets

In international markets, Hong Kong closed higher, while Tokyo ended in the red.

European markets were trading with gains, and US markets closed mostly higher on Monday.

Despite the optimism, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers, offloading Rs1,634.98 crore worth of equities on Monday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, Brent crude prices dipped slightly by 0.25 per cent to $72.52 per barrel.