At 70,514, Sensex scales new heights as Fed hints at rate cut

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, December 14

Sensex and Nifty on Thursday touched all-time highs on Thursday due to frenzied buying in stocks of IT, tech and realty companies. The rally took place after the US Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate unchanged and signalled rate cuts next year.

WPI inflation at eight-month high

Wholesale price-based inflation rose at its fastest pace in eight months, going up by 0.26% in November mainly due to a sharp rise in food prices. The Food Index consisting of ‘Food Articles’ from Primary Articles group and ‘Food Product’ from Manufactured Products group have increased from 179.6 in October to 183.1 in November 2023.

Persistent buying by foreign investors and sliding crude oil prices in the international markets also supported domestic equities, said traders. Falling crude prices also contributed to the sentiment.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 929.60 points to settle at 70,514.20, its all-time closing high. During the day, it had surged 1,018.29 points or 1.46 per cent to hit its all-time intraday peak of 70,602.89. A total of 2,064 stocks advanced while 1,702 declined and 126 remained unchanged.

Among the Sensex firms, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv and Mahindra & Mahindra were the major gainers.

The Nifty also was in the bullish zone with a rally of 256.35 points to settle at a record closing high of 21,182.70. During the day, the Nifty too rose 284.55 points or 1.35 per cent to touch 21,210.90, a record intraday peak.

The rupee also recovered from all-time lows to close at 83.33 against the US dollar on Thursday. It gained seven paise as the dollar weakened in overseas markets following signals that the US Federal Reserve will not raise the benchmark interest rate in the near future.