Sensex, Nifty jump over 1% on rally in global markets

Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty jumped more than 1 per cent on Wednesday amid a rally in global markets on favourable US inflation data.

An encouraging US inflation report has raised hopes for an end to interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 742.06 points or 1.14 per cent to settle at 65,675.93. During the day, it zoomed 813.78 points or 1.25 per cent to 65,747.65. The Nifty50 of National Stock Exchange climbed 231.90 points or 1.19 per cent to 19,675.45. Among the Sensex firms, Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors, Infosys, Wipro, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries and Axis Bank were the major gainers. Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank and Power Grid were the laggards.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled in the positive territory. European markets were trading in the green. The US markets ended with significant gains on Tuesday. Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.78 per cent to USD 81.83 a barrel. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,244.44 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data. Equity markets were closed on Tuesday on account of Diwali Balipratipada.

The BSE benchmark fell 325.58 points or 0.50 per cent to settle at 64,933.87 on Monday. The Nifty declined 82 points or 0.42 per cent to 19,443.55. Continuing the downward trend, retail inflation slipped to a four-month low of 4.87 per cent in October, mainly due to easing food prices and inched towards the Reserve Bank's target of 4 per cent, according to government data released on Monday. Wholesale price inflation remained in the negative territory for the seventh month in a row in October at (-) 0.52 per cent on easing prices of food items. A negative WPI inflation, technically termed as deflation, means that overall wholesale prices have been falling year-on-year.