Markets climb for 4th day; Sensex jumps 899 pts, Nifty reclaims 23k-mark
Mumbai, Mar 20 (PTI): Rallying for the fourth straight session, stock market benchmarks Sensex and Nifty surged over 1 per cent on Thursday, powered by across-the-board buying amid a mixed trend in global equities after the US Federal Reserve maintained its rate cut projections for this year.
Hectic buying in market heavyweights Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and IT stocks bolstered investor sentiment, traders said.
The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex jumped 899.01 points or 1.19 per cent to settle at 76,348.06, regaining the 76,000 level. During the day, it soared 1,007.2 points or 1.33 per cent to 76,456.25.
As many as 2,410 stocks advanced while 1,606 declined and 129 remained unchanged on the BSE.
The NSE Nifty surged 283.05 points or 1.24 per cent to reclaim the 23,000-mark to finish at 23,190.65.
"Nifty surged by 283 points, marking gains for the fourth consecutive day as all sectors closed in the green. Optimism was driven by signals of two Fed rate cuts in 2025 and hopes of a halt in FII selling," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.
Bharti Airtel was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, rising 4.17 per cent, followed by Titan, Tata Consultancy Services, Hindustan Unilever, Infosys, Nestle, Reliance Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC Bank and Tata Motors.
In contrast, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance and UltraTech Cement were the laggards.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve said the US economy still looks healthy enough to keep interest rates unchanged. The US central bank pointed out that it is expecting to cut rates twice this year even as inflation stays elevated.
"On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve announced its decision to keep the policy rate in the 4.25-4.50 per cent range. Policymakers anticipate two rate cuts in 2025, with economic growth projected at 1.7 per cent and inflation at 2.7 per cent for the year.
"Overall, this decision has mixed implications for currency movements, capital flows and market sentiment in India. Higher US interest rates could lead to foreign capital outflows from Indian markets, whereas lower rates may attract investment," Ravi Singh, SVP – Retail Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.
The BSE smallcap gauge climbed 0.73 per cent, and the midcap index rose 0.61 per cent.
All BSE sectoral indices ended higher, where telecommunication jumped 1.94 per cent, teck (1.89 per cent), oil & gas (1.56 per cent), energy (1.42 per cent), auto (1.39 per cent) and BSE Focused IT (1.23 per cent).
"The stability in global markets and moderation in FII selling have significantly improved sentiment. Notably, the recovery in banking and financial stocks, alongside strength in metal, real estate, and energy heavyweights, has played a crucial role in sustaining the momentum.
"Additionally, broader market participation and themes such as defence and railways have further eased pressure," Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.
In Asian markets, Seoul settled in the positive territory while Shanghai and Hong Kong ended lower. Japan's Nikkei was closed for a holiday.
European equity markets were trading lower. US markets ended significantly higher on Wednesday.
"Consistent falls of the US dollar index (DXY) have reduced the intensity of FII selling while DII buying continues to be strong, thus triggering the recent upside," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.32 per cent to USD 71.01 a barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,096.50 crore on Wednesday after a day's breather, according to exchange data. Domestic Institutional Investors (DII) bought equities worth Rs 2,140.76 crore.
"Fed continues to project an additional two rate cuts this year, which may create a tailwind for global equities in the near term," Dhawal Ghanshyam Dhanani, Fund Manager at SAMCO Mutual Fund, said.
On Wednesday, the Sensex climbed 147.79 points or 0.20 per cent to settle at 75,449.05. The Nifty rose 73.30 points or 0.32 per cent to 22,907.60.
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Gurugram Police arrest BJP Yuva Morcha member for spreading fake murder story on social media
New Delhi: Gurugram Police have arrested BJP Yuva Morcha member Hariom Mishra, for allegedly spreading a fabricated and communally sensitive story on social media about the murder of a college student in Gurugram.
Mishra who is also known as Shaurya Mishra had shared a collage of four photographs on his X handle earlier this month. He claimed that a 24-year-old college student, identified as Nikita Agarwal, had been murdered by her classmate Arif Khan in Gurugram. In the post, he alleged that the woman was blackmailed, forced into prostitution, gangraped, and eventually killed. He also claimed that Arif dumped her body in a forest. The claims were presented as being based on police sources.
The post went viral and garnering over 1.5 lakh views, and was amplified by several right-wing social media handles across X, Facebook and Instagram. A verification of the claims revealed that no such incident had taken place in Gurugram. A search of credible news reports showed no record of any such murder. The police said this news would have inevitably attracted media attention if it were true.
On December 11, Gurugram Police publicly refuted the claims through their official X handle. They stated that the information which was being circulated was completely false. The police warned that legal action would be taken against those spreading misinformation. Despite the warning, Mishra neither deleted the post nor issued any clarification.
Police in Gurugram confirmed Mishra's arrest on December 16. The police said a FIR was filed after he continued to spread false information about the alleged murder of a Hindu woman by Muslim man. Police said Mishra, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district, is now being investigated.
Gurugram Police spokesperson Sandeep Singh told The Print that the accused had deliberately misrepresented facts and used objectionable content to spread hatred along religious lines. “Such posts can create serious disturbances in society, and the police take these matters very seriously,” he said.
A reverse image search conducted by fact-checkers at Alt News, revealed that the photographs used in the viral post were unrelated to the claims, while two of the images were traced to a Pinterest account belonging to influencer Maulik Chopra and another image was sourced from an Instagram post by influencer Shivam Thakur featuring a woman named Deepanshi Rawat. The fourth image was found on an unrelated Instagram page. The images depicted different individuals and had no connection to any crime.
Police said they are also investigating Mishra’s motive behind sharing the false and provocative content.
