Markets extend gains; Sensex jumps 355 points amid global rally on US Fed rate cut hopes

Mumbai, Sep 12 (PTI) Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty surged on Friday in line with a global market rally amid rising hopes that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week.

Optimism over a successful conclusion of India-US trade talks has also fuelled a rally in markets.

Rallying for the fifth day in a row, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 355.97 points or 0.44 per cent to settle at 81,904.70. During the day, it surged 444.12 points or 0.54 per cent to 81,992.85.

The 50-share NSE Nifty rallied 108.50 points or 0.43 per cent to 25,114, registering its eighth straight day of uptrend.

"The domestic market closed at a three-week high, supported by renewed global optimism over a potential Fed rate cut. Sentiments improved further on reports that the EU may reject US tariff proposals on India for buying Russian oil.

"Progress in US-India trade talks is also expected to keep the positive momentum intact in the near term. The defence sector outperformed, aided by the Indian procurement authorities beginning negotiations for six next-generation conventional submarines," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

On the weekly front, the BSE benchmark jumped 1,193.94 points or 1.47 per cent, and the Nifty climbed 373 points or 1.50 per cent. In eight trading days, the Nifty has jumped 534.4 points or 2.17 per cent.

From the Sensex firms, Bharat Electronics, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, Maruti and Tata Motors were among the gainers.

However, Eternal, Hindustan Unilever, Trent and Titan were the major laggards.

The BSE smallcap gauge climbed 0.27 per cent, and the midcap went up marginally by 0.09 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, capital goods jumped 1.76 per cent, industrials (1.28 per cent), telecommunication (0.88 per cent), BSE utilities (0.53 per cent), power (0.44 per cent) and BSE Focused IT (0.36 per cent).

Consumer Discretionary, FMCG, consumer durables, oil & gas were the laggards.

"Positive trends in Asian equities, coupled with a mild decline in crude oil prices, further supported risk appetite," Gaurav Garg, Research Analyst, Lemonn Markets Desk, said.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225 index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled in positive territory, while Shanghai's SSE Composite index ended lower.

Markets in Europe were trading mostly lower.

US markets ended higher on Thursday.

"Markets extended their winning streak on Friday, gaining nearly half a per cent, in line with favourable global and domestic cues. The up move was supported by a mix of triggers. Corporate developments, such as Infosys’ Rs 18,000 crore mega buyback, boosted sentiment in IT blue chips.

"Strong inflows from domestic institutional investors offset continued selling by foreign portfolio investors, while positive cues from global markets further strengthened momentum," Ajit Mishra, SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,472.37 crore on Thursday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth Rs 4,045.54 crore, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.47 per cent to USD 66.72 a barrel.

On Thursday, the Sensex climbed 123.58 points or 0.15 per cent to settle at 81,548.73, its fourth day of rally. The Nifty rose by 32.40 points or 0.13 per cent to settle at a nearly three-week high of 25,005.50, marking its seventh consecutive day of gains. PTI SUM SUM BAL BAL