Closing Bell: Sensex jumps 1041 points, Nifty up 288 points

Indian equity benchmarks surged on Thursday with the Sensex
and Nifty gaining nearly 2%, on the back of heavy buying in Bajaj Finance
shares amid a mixed trend in the global equity markets.

The Sensex jumped 1,041.47 points of 1.87% to close at
56,857.79. During the day, it gained 1,097.9 points or 1.96% to 56,914.22. The Nifty
advanced 287.80 points or 1.73% to 16,929.60.

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The broader indices ended in green with the BSE Mid cap
index up by 0.94%, while Small cap index up by 0.65%. The top gaining sectoral
indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.51%, TECK up by 2.19%, Realty up by 2.03%,
Metal up by 1.86% and Bankex up by 1.72%, while Telecom down by 0.37% was the
only losing index on BSE.

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Top gainers from the Sensex pack were Bajaj Finance up by
10.68, Bajaj Finserv up by 10.14%, Tata Steel up by 4.59%, Kotak Mahindra up by
4.25%, IndusInd Bank up by 3.90%, Infosys up by 3.13%, Tech Mahindra up by
3.04%, Nestle up by 2.51%, Asian Paints up by 2.44% and Wipro up by 2.31%.

Among the losers were Bharti Airtel down by 1.19%,
Ultratech Cement down by 0.99%, Dr Reddy Labs down by 0.73%, ITC down by 0.16%
and Sun Pharma down by 0.12%.

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The rupee gained 26 paise to settle at 79.65 against the US
dollar.

In Asia, markets in Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul ended higher,
while Hong Kong closed in the red.

European markets were trading lower during the afternoon
session. The US stock markets had ended sharply higher on Wednesday.

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“Positive cues from global markets following the Fed
policy outcome, as well as domestic large caps’ upbeat earnings, drove the
market rally. The Fed’s decision was as expected, while their positive comment
dismissing the possibility of a recession and hinting at a slower pace of rate
hikes in the coming months boosted global sentiments,” said Vinod Nair,
Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

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Brent crude, the international oil benchmark jumped 1.36%
to $108.1 per barrel.

According to the stock exchange data, foreign institutional
investors were net sellers in the capital markets as they offloaded shares
worth Rs 436.81 crore on Wednesday.