Stock market today: BSE Sensex and Nifty50, the Indian equity benchmark indices, touched new lifetime highs in intra-day trade on Thursday. While BSE Sensex almost touched 80,400, Nifty50 went above 24,400. BSE Sensex ended the day at 80,049.67, up 63 points or 0.079%. This is the first time that Sensex has ended above the 80,000 mark. Nifty50 ended at 24,302.15, up 16 points or 0.064%.
Indian benchmark indices fluctuated within a narrow range but managed to reach new closing highs.
The Nifty market breadth favored the bears, with 27 stocks closing in the red and 23 ending in positive territory. The top gainers at the close were Tata Motors, HCL Technologies, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharmaceuticals, and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). On the other hand, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Adani Enterprises, Wipro, and Tech Mahindra were among the top losers.
Eleven out of the 16 sectoral indices closed higher, with Nifty Pharma, Nifty IT, and Nifty Auto leading the pack with gains of up to 1.4%. Nifty Media, Nifty Financial Services, and Nifty Metal were among the underperformers.
Expand
In the global market, most major Asian indices closed in positive territory, except for China's Shanghai Composite, which declined by 0.83%. Japan's Nikkei 225 led the gainers with a 0.83% increase, followed by Hong Kong's Hang Seng index, which rose by 0.28%, and Singapore's FTSE Straits Times Index, which surged up to 0.71%.
In Europe, UK's FTSE was up by 0.70%, Germany's DAX showed a gain of 0.29%, and France's CAC 40 and Stoxx 600 both rose by 0.72%. However, Spain's IBEX closed lower by 0.25%.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, commented on the day's action, stating that "defensive bets on largecaps like IT and pharma gained momentum due to the diminishing US inflationary pressure on the day when the markets ended flat. The improvement in QoQ earnings outlook and a resultant sharp fall in the US 10-year bond yield was the trigger."
He added that "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."
The Indian rupee closed slightly stronger on Thursday, supported by firmer Asian peers amid a decrease in US bond yields. The rupee ended at 83.4925 against the US dollar, a slight improvement from its previous close at 83.53, according to Reuters.