Sensex, Nifty End Notably Higher On Soft US Data

(RTTNews) - Indian shares rose notably on Thursday after Wall Street's three major indexes notched record closes overnight on optimism that inflation is heading back in the right direction and that there will be two interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve in 2024.

A drop in the dollar index and U.S. bond yields helped underpin sentiment as moderating U.S. inflation and soft retail sales figures brought Fed rate cuts back into focus.

Market expectations now lean more firmly for policy easing to kickstart in September this year, followed by another rate cut before the end of 2024.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex jumped 676.69 points, or 0.93 percent, to 73,663.72 while the broader NSE Nifty index closed at 22,403.85, up 203.30 points, or 0.92 percent, from its previous close.

In corporate news, Mahindra & Mahindra surged 4 percent after announcing it has received overwhelming response for its recently launched compact SUV, the XUV 3XO.

Tata Consumer Products rallied 2.8 percent after fixing the record date for dividend payout.

Bharti Airtel added 2.6 percent after its CEO Gopal Vittal emphasized the need for 'substantial tariff repair' across the industry.

IT stocks posted broad-based gains, with Tech Mahindra and LTIMindTree rising over 2 percent each.

Among the prominent decliners, BPCL, Power Grid Corp, Tata Motors, SBI and Maruti Suzuki India fell 1-2 percent.