Sensex ends 165 points up; Nifty closes at 19,413.75

The BSE Sensex touched a record high of 66,064.21 during the intra-day trades before closing at 65,558.89, up 164.99 points, or 0.25 per cent, compared to the previous close of 65,393.9.

TCS, Hindalco, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Life, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI Life were the top gainers in today's session. (File image)

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After hitting fresh all-time highs, supported by a rally in IT stocks, the benchmark indices ended off their intraday peaks on Wednesday due to profit booking.

The BSE Sensex touched a record high of 66,064.21 during the intra-day trades before closing at 65,558.89, up 164.99 points, or 0.25 per cent, compared to the previous close of 65,393.9. The broader NSE Nifty closed 0.15 per cent up at 19,413.75. It climbed to a new peak of 19,567 during the intraday trades.

“Today’s domestic rally was supported by the contra bet buying of the IT stocks which was supported by stable margins, new generation business opportunities and increase in pricing power due to moderation in USD, as latest US inflation is fast approaching the Fed’s target levels,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

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In the US, inflation eased to 3 per cent (y-o-y) in June, the lowest since March 2021. It raised hopes that the US Federal Reserve may be soon nearing the end of the rate hike cycle.

However, in the second half there was a big bout of profit booking where Nifty fell more than 180 points from the day’s high, said Devarsh Vakil, Deputy Head – Retail Research, HDFC Securities.

IT stocks were the biggest gainer post good deal wins reported by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in the first quarter of FY24. The IT major reported a 16.8 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 11,074 crore in the April-June quarter.

After announcing the Q1FY24 results, TCS’s MD and CEO said, “It is very satisfying to start the new fiscal year with a string of marquee deal wins. We remain confident in the longer-term demand for our services, driven by the emergence of newer technologies.”

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TCS, Hindalco, Infosys, Tech Mahindra and Bajaj Finserv were the top gainers on NSE. Power Grid, Coal India, Maruti and BPCL were the top losers.

BankNifty closed at 44,665.05 after soaring to a high of 45,085.15 during the day. The decline in the index was mainly due to the lower-than-expected Q1FY24 results of the Federal Bank. The private lender reported a profit after tax of Rs 853.74 crore in the first quarter.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net bought Rs 2,237.93 crore of domestic shares on Thursday, according to the provisional data from BSE.

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