Sensex jumps 418 pts to 6-month high on positive domestic macro data, firm global equities

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

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 percent to settle at 63,143.16. During the day, it advanced 452.76 points or 0.72 percent to 63,177.47.

The NSE Nifty climbed 114.65 points or 0.62 percent 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.

Retail inflation declined to a 25-month low of 4.25 percent 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 percent.

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

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 percent to USD 72.95 a barrel.

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

The 30-share BSE benchmark climbed 99.08 points or 0.16 percent to settle at 62,724.71 on Monday. The Nifty advanced 38.10 points or 0.21 percent to end at 18,601.50.