By Bharath Rajeswaran
BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian shares climbed to a record high on Thursday, led by information technology stocks after the U.S. Federal Reserve kicked off its monetary easing cycle with a large half percentage point rate reduction.
The Nifty 50 index gained 0.62% at 25,533.6 points, while the S&P BSE Sensex added 0.68% at 83,515.55, as of 10:06 a.m. IST.
“While a rate cut was expected, a 50 basis point cut is a positive surprise and will boost the domestic equity markets,” said Raghvendra Nath, managing director at Ladderup Wealth Management.
The Fed’s dot plot also signalled that the central bank has projected another cut of half a percentage point in 2024.
The rate easing will shift foreign inflows into emerging markets such as India and also support earnings outlook for domestic IT companies, three analysts said.
IT companies, which earn a significant share of their revenue from the U.S., jumped 1% during the session.
Twelve of the 13 major sectors logged gains. The broader, more domestically focussed small- and mid-caps rose about 0.4% each.
Other Asian markets also advanced, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index rising 0.9%. [MKTS/GLOB]
Among individual stocks, state-owned power producer NTPC rose 4% after its green energy arm filed for a $1.2 billion initial public offer. It was the top Nifty 50 gainer.
Bajaj Auto added 2% after HSBC retained “buy” and hiked target price on the company, citing earnings resilience.
Non-bank lender Aditya Birla Capital gained 3% after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) gave its approval to merge its unit Aditya Birla Finance with itself.
Garden Reach Shipbuilders leaped 3% on a $54 million order win.
FirstCry parent Brainbees Solutions was up 3% after BofA Securities and Morgan Stanley initiated coverage with “buy”, citing strong earnings outlook.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Sumana Nandy)
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