Sensex jumps 418 pts to close at 6-mth high, Nifty above 17,700 mark on macro data push

Mumbai: Benchmark Sensex spurted 418 points to settle at more than six-month high while Nifty closed above the 17,700 mark on Tuesday on positive domestic macroeconomic data and gains in global markets.

Buying in index majors Reliance Industries and ITC also added to the optimism in equities.

Climbing for the second straight session, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 418.45 points or 0.67 per cent to settle at 63,143.16, a level not seen since December 1 when the barometer closed at an all-time high.

During the day, the index advanced 452.76 points or 0.72 per cent to 63,177.47.

The NSE Nifty climbed 114.65 points or 0.62 per cent to end at 18,716.15.

From the Sensex pack, ITC, Titan, Asian Paints, Reliance, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Nestle and ICICI Bank were the major gainers.

Kotak Mahindra Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Technologies, State Bank of India, Bharti Airtel and Tata Motors were among the laggards.

"The sustained flow of better-than-expected domestic macroeconomic data kept the market mood afloat, with the Nifty midcap trading to all-time highs..

"Attention now turns to the release of US inflation data and the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announcement, where the view is optimistic on keeping rates on hold," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Retail inflation declined to a 25-month low of 4.25 per cent in May, mainly on account of softening prices of food and fuel items. This is the fourth straight month when retail inflation has declined and the third straight month of Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation remaining within the RBI's comfort zone of below 6 per cent.

India's industrial production growth rose to 4.2 per cent in April from 1.7 per cent in March 2023, mainly due to good performance by the manufacturing and mining sectors, according to official data released on Monda.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge jumped 1.17 per cent and smallcap index climbed 0.82 per cent.

Among the indices, realty rallied 2.94 per cent, consumer durables zoomed 1.80 per cent, telecommunication (1.69 per cent), FMCG (1.38 per cent), healthcare (1.04 per cent), metal (1.03 per cent) and commodities (0.90 per cent).

Services emerged as the only laggard.

"Nifty rose for the second consecutive session aided by positive overnight cues. Global equities were largely up on Tuesday, taking cues from an upbeat session on Wall Street ahead of key US inflation data that could shape the outlook for Federal Reserve monetary policy," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities..

As many as 2,117 stocks advanced, while 1,469 declined and 136 remained unchanged on the BSE.

Among others, shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises declined more than 6 per cent in day trade before settling nearly 1 per cent lower on Tuesday after Sebi banned Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra and ZEEL's Punit Goenka from holding any directorial or key managerial position in any listed firm..

Tyre maker MRF Ltd became the first company to cross the Rs 1 lakh share price in intra-day trade with the stock rising more than 1 per cent to hit a record high pf Rs 1,00,300 apiece. The stock closed up by 1.02 per cent at Rs 99,950.65.

"MRF, one of the leading stocks in the Indian stock market, has made history by becoming the first 6-digit stock after surpassing the impressive milestone of 1 lakh," said Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart Ltd.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the green.

Equity markets in Europe were trading mostly in positive territory. The US markets ended in positive territory on Monday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.55 per cent to USD 72.95 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 626.62 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.