Stock Market update: Sensex, Nifty gain over 1.5% each to hit 2-month high; factors behind today's rally decoded

Stock Market update: Domestic equity markets on Thursday surged for the second straight session mainly on the back of strong global cues and massive buying in key financial and metal stocks. The BSE Sensex has jumped over 1,000 points to trade above 56,800 and the Nifty was placed above 16,900 to hit their two-month highs.   

At around 01:25 PM, the BSE Sensex was up 1014 points or 1.82 per cent to 56,830.55, while Nifty50 was up 275 points or 1.66 per cent to 16,917.5. Following benchmarks suit, even broader indices such as Nifty Midcap and Smallcap gained by 0.72 and 0.67 per cent, respectively, intraday today.

The market rally was mainly led by strong global cues after the US Federal Reserve hiked key interest rate by 75 basis points and positive commentary by US Fed Chair Jeremy Powell on Wednesday.

Similarly, the market has also been aided by robust Q1 results and corporate actions of the firms such as Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, and Tata Steel – which are also the top index gainers. While Bajaj twins surged up to 10 per cent, Tata Steel advanced over 5 per cent, intraday.

Bajaj Finance is reacting to robust Q1 results, while Bajaj Finserv is to bonus issue and stock split announcement, while Tata Steel shares are trading ex-split today.  

Stock such as IndusInd Bank, JSW Steel are up over 3.5 per cent, followed by Infosys, Kotak Bank, Wipro, Tech Mahindra each up by 2-3 per cent on the NSE intraday.

Only 7 of the Nifty50 stocks are trading in the negative territory around 01:20 PM. Dr Reddy’s ahead of its Q1 results is dragging both the Nifty as well as the Pharma index down, slipping over 1 per cent in an otherwise positive market.  

While other stocks from the pharma pack such as Sun Pharma and Cipla are also weak, each down marginally by around 0.5 per cent. Coal India, Airtel, UltraTech Cement, and ITC are other laggards today.

Sectorally, all indices are up except pharma, which is down marginally by 0.2 per cent on the Nifty. While IT, Financial and Metal indices are gaining over 2 per cent intraday today.