Stock Market Updates: Sensex Jumps 250 pts, Hits Fresh High; Nifty Inches Towards 21K

Sensex Today: Continuing their swift rally, equity benchmark indices opened higher Wednesday and made new highs again. The BSE Sensex rose 240 points to 69,536 and the NSE Nifty50 moved 90 points up to 20,950.

Power Grid, Asian Paints, SBI, HDFC Bank, HCL Tech and Sun Pharma rose 0.5-1.3 per cent, leading gains on the Sensex, while Adani Ent and Adani Ports jumped 3-4 per cent on the Nifty.

On the flip side, Maruti, Bajaj Auto, Eicher Motors were the top frontline losers.

The BSE MidCap index rose 0.4 per cent and the SmallCap index gained 0.23 per cent.

Global Cues

China’s blue-chip stocks slumped to an almost five-year trough on Wednesday while the Chinese yuan extended losses, with market sentiment fragile after ratings agency Moody’s cut China’s credit outlook.

Moody’s issued a downgrade warning on China’s credit rating on Tuesday, saying costs to bail out local governments and state firms and control its property crisis would weigh on the world’s second-largest economy.

China stocks opened down before giving up earlier losses, with the CSI300 Index touching its lowest level since Feb. 2019.

The Hang Seng Index, meanwhile, rebounded roughly 0.6 per cent in morning trade.

Japan’s Nikkei share average traded sharply higher on Wednesday, rebounding from a steep decline in the previous session, as investors bought back beaten-down chip-related stocks. By 0207 GMT, the Nikkei index was up 1.7 per cent at 33,321.54, while the broader Topix had gained 1.41 per cent to 2,375.80.

Asian shares advanced as a further US labor-market slowdown reinforced speculation the Federal Reserve will be able to cut interest rates next year to prevent a recession. Benchmark indexes rose over 1 per cent in Japan, the most in three weeks. Stocks in Australia and South Korea also advanced while futures in Hong Kong pointed to gains.

Wall Street finished mixed on Tuesday after fresh employment data bolstered bets that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates as soon as March. Wall Street’s most valuable companies rose as Treasury yields dipped to multi-month lows. Nvidia and Apple rose more than 2 per cent, while Amazon.com and Tesla gained more than 1 per cent.