Sensex closes above 82k 1st time on US optimism

MUMBAI: The sensex and Nifty hit record levels in early trade on Thursday and logged all-time high closing levels. Dalal Street sentiment got a mid-session boost from RIL’s bonus share issue proposal. Currently, market sentiment is riding on high expectations of a rate cut by the US Federal Reserve on Sept 18 – as reflected in large-cap gains. Mid and small-cap stocks have been witnessing selling pressure.

The sensex on Thursday opened marginally higher due to overnight weakness in the US market, but soon rallied to a new life-high mark, witnessed some profit-taking at higher levels and then rallied again to a new high at 82,286 points.It finally settled at 82,135 points – a record on a closing basis and up 349 points on the day. Nifty recorded a similar trajectory. The broader index hit a new peak at 25,193 points and closed at 25,152 points, up 100 points.
According to Vinod Nair of Geojit Financial Services, volatility was seen mid-session but the broad market carried the rally to a new high by the end of the day with rapid improvement in sentiment. “The recent uptick in the Indian IT and FMCG stocks points to a potential soft landing for the US economy and an improvement in domestic rural consumption,” Nair said.
BSE’s mid-cap index closed 0.3% down while the small-cap index lost 0.7%. As a result, the day’s session left investors poorer by about Rs 70,000 crore with investors’ wealth, represented by BSE’s market capitalisation, at Rs 475.4 lakh crore.