Market Closing: Sensex Jumps 1,245 Points To End Near 73,750, Nifty Above 22,300

Sensex Today: Bulls tightened their grip on the bourses on Friday as faster-than-expected expansion in the December quarter GDP lifted sentiment. The S&P BSE Sensex hit a record high of 73,819, while the Nifty50 touched 22,353 intraday.

The 30-share index, eventually, ended at 73,745, up 1,245 points, while the Nifty shut shop at 22,339, up 356 points. Both the indices surged over 1.5 per cent each.

Tata Steel was the lead winner on the BSE benchmark, rising nearly 7 per cent, followed by L&T, JSW Steel, Titan, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, SBI, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, NTPC, Ultratech Cement, Maruti Suzuki, and RIL (up 1.7 per cent).

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices underperformed the frontline indices as they capped their gains at 0.9 per cent.

Among sectors, the Nifty Metal zoomed 3.7 per cent, the Nifty PSU Bank, Private Bank, Bank, Auto indices over 2 per cent, and the Nifty Realty 0.7 per cent. The Nifty Media, IT, and Pharma indices slipped up to 0.9 per cent.

Special Trading Session on Saturday

Normal trading will be in two sessions on Saturday March 02, from 09:15 to 10:00 AM followed by 11:30 to 12:30 noon.

Global Cues

In Asia this morning, Japan’s Nikkei soared 1.3 per cent. Most others, were trading on a flat note.

Overnight, the US markets ended higher as inflation data supported views of interest rate cut. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit fresh record highs and ended with most gains for February in a decade.

On Thursday, Nasdaq jumped 0.9 per cent, the S&P 500 advanced 0.5 per cent and Dow added 0.1 per cent. raised hopes of a likely rate slightly lower a day ahead of a key inflation reading that could heavily influence expectations on timing of rate cuts. Dow and the S&P 500 were marginally in red, while Nasdaq slipped 0.6 per cent.

January’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index – the Federal Reserve’s preferred measurement for inflation – saw headline cool to 2.4 per cent.

The 10-year US Treasury bond yield dipped to 4.26.4 per cent. Whereas, Brent Crude Oil futures consolidated around $82 per barrel and Bitcoin stood firmly above the $60,000-mark for the second straight day.