Mumbai: Key equity indices the Sensex and the Nifty 50 extended their gains into the second consecutive session on Wednesday, October 12, in light of positive global cues as bond yields eased ahead of the USFederal Reserve’s latest meeting minutes and US inflation prints.
US bond yields have cooled off from their highest levels since 2007 after signals from the Fed officials that rate hikes could be over.
The minutes from the Fed’s September meeting are due to be released today. On Thursday, the US inflation data is expected to show that inflation slowed slightly to 3.6 per cent in September, from 3.7 per cent in August, according to Reuters.
India’s September CPI-based inflation, or retail inflation, is also expected on Thursday. Experts expect the inflation print to come near 5.5 per cent in September against 7.44 per cent in July and 6.83 per cent in August.
Moreover, reports emerged that China was planning to announce stimulus to help its economy. This also underpinned market sentiment.
“In a fresh effort to shore up the slowing economy, Beijing is considering raising its budget deficit and mulling the issuance of additional debt for infrastructure spending,” Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
Nifty 50 opened at 19,767 against the previous close of 19,689.85 and touched the intraday high and low of 19,839.20 and 19,756.95 respectively. Nifty 50 finally closed at 19,811.35, up 122 points, or 0.62 per cent.
The 30-share pack Sensex opened at 66,376.42 against the previous close of 66,079.36 and touched its intraday high and low of 66,592.16 and 66,299.79 respectively. The index settled at 66,473.05, up 394 points, or 0.60 per cent.
The BSE Midcap index rose 0.55 per cent while the Smallcap index clocked a gain of 0.77 per cent.
The overall market capitalisation (mcap) of BSE-listed firms rose to about ₹321.6 lakh crore from ₹319.7 lakh crore in the previous session, making investors richer by about ₹1.9 lakh crore in a single day.
As many as 271 stocks, including Bharti Airtel, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company, Coal India, DLF and Zomato, hit their fresh 52-week highs in intraday trade on BSE.