Stock market today: Indian equity benchmark indices, BSE Sensex and Nifty50, continued to hit new lifetime highs in trade on Thursday. While BSE Sensex crossed the 79,000 mark for the first time to hit a high of 79013.76, Nifty50 too went past 23,900. At 10:24 AM, BSE Sensex was trading at 78,926.10, up 252 points or 0.32%. Nifty50 was at 23,941.50, up 73 points or 0.30%.
At this hour the top Sensex gainers were, UltraTech Cement, JSW Steel, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank. The top Sensex losers were ITC, HDFC Bank, TCS, IndusInd Bank and Asian Paints.
The equity markets continued their upward trend as Nifty reached new highs for the second day in a row, gradually approaching the 24,000 mark. Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal, has said, "Overall optimism surrounding the
Union Budget, increasing FII inflows, and robust domestic economic data contributed towards the positive movement in the market. We expect the ongoing uptrend to continue further."
Nagaraj Shetti of HDFC Securities notes that the current upside momentum might face resistance around the 24000-24100 levels, and a period of consolidation or minor weakness could emerge from these highs. The immediate support is at 23650 levels.
In the US, major stock indexes closed with modest gains on Wednesday after a choppy trading session, as investors remained cautious ahead of a presidential debate and a closely watched inflation report by the Federal Reserve. The Dow gained 0.04%, the S&P rose 0.16%, and the Nasdaq increased by 0.49%.
Oil prices slid in early Asian trade on Thursday due to a surprise build in U.S. stockpiles, raising concerns about slow demand from the top oil consumer. However, worries about a potential expansion of the Gaza war disrupting Middle East supplies limited the declines. The yen remained near a 38-year low, struggling on the weaker side of 160 per dollar, keeping markets alert for any signs of intervention from Japanese authorities to support the currency.