Mumbai: Stock market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty surged nearly 1 per cent on Monday amid renewed hopes that the US Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates soon.
Traders said foreign fund inflows and buying in frontline stocks HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries also drove the markets higher. On Friday, US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the time had come to lower the main interest rate from a two-decade high.
"The time has come for policy to adjust," Powell said. "The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks."
The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 611.90 points or 0.75 per cent to settle at 81,698.11. During the day, it surged 738.06 points or 0.91 per cent to 81,824.27. The NSE Nifty soared 187.45 points or 0.76 per cent to 25,010.60.
Among the 30 Sensex firms, HCL Technologies, NTPC, Bajaj Finserv, Tech Mahindra, JSW Steel, Titan, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro and Tata Consultancy Services were the biggest gainers. Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, Maruti and Hindustan Unilever were among the laggards.
In Asian markets, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled in the positive territory while Seoul and Tokyo ended lower. European markets were trading mostly lower. The US markets ended with significant gains on Friday.
"The Fed chief Powell's clear message of the beginning of the rate cutting cycle will impart further resilience to the ongoing global rally in stock markets," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,944.48 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.08 per cent to USD 79.87 a barrel.
Rising for the fourth straight session on Friday, the BSE benchmark ended 33.02 points or 0.04 per cent higher at 81,086.21. The NSE Nifty edged up 11.65 points or 0.05 per cent to close at 24,823.15, registering gains for the seventh session in a row.
