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The BSE Sensex added 236.57 points or 0.29 per cent to settle at 83,184.80. The index scaled a record high of 83,773.61 during intraday trade.
Mirroring the Sensex, Nifty50 touched an all-time high of 25,611.95 before ending Thursday’s session with a gain of 38.25 points or 0.15 per cent at 25,415.80.
Market View by Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
The big Fed rate cut by 50 bp has the potential to take equity markets into a consolidation phase with an upward bias. The Fed chief Powell’s remark that “we have gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably towards 2%” is a very optimistic commentary of the US economy. At the same time US growth continues to be solid and the labour market is good.
Global Cues
Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were being led higher by Japan’s Nikkei 225, with Nikkei and Topix up about 2 per cent each.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures pointed to a flat open for HSI, as they would return to trade after being closed for a public holiday on Wednesday.
The Taiwan Weighted Index was up 0.12 per cent, and South Korea’s blue-chip Kospi slipped 0.51 per cent after opening higher. The small-cap Kosdaq was up 0.25 per cent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.15 per cent on open.
Futures of mainland China’s CSI 300 stood at 3,191 slightly lower than its Tuesday close at 3,195.76.
Major stock indices had closed with modest losses and the dollar gained ground in choppy trading on Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve opted for a supersized cut in its first move to borrowing costs in more than four years.
The central bank cut its overnight rate by half a percentage point, more than the quarter-point that is customary for adjustments, citing greater confidence that inflation will keep receding to its 2 per cent annual target.
The benchmark S&P 500 rose as much as 1 per cent after the announcement before retreating to close down 0.29 per cent at 5,618.26.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.25 per cent, at 41,503.10, and the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.31 per cent, to end at 17,573.30.
