Sensex jumps 206 points, Nifty at new peak after Fed move

Mumbai: The Sensex rebounded by over 206 points and the NSE Nifty scaled a life-time high of 9,143 in opening trade today amid a firming trend in global markets after the US Fed hiked the key lending rate.

The Federal Reserve, as expected, raised the benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point, but gave a more dovish outlook for future hikes. The rupee was in a sweet spot, strengthening by another 47 paise to hit a fresh 16-month high of 65.22 against the dollar.

The 30-share index surged 206.40 points, or 0.70 per cent, to 29,604.51. The gauge had shed 44.52 points in the previous session. All the indices, led by metal, infrastructure and capital goods, advanced with gains up to 1.24 per cent.

The NSE index Nifty rallied by 68.10 points, or 0.74 per cent, to trade at an all-time intra-day high of 9,152.90, breaching its previous record of 9,122.75 (intra-day) touched on Tuesday.

The buoyancy is in line with a firming trend at other Asian bourses, tracking overnight gains in the US, after the Federal Reserve went for a rate increase. Besides, a flood of foreign capital in domestic bourses gave a push to the equities, traders added. Japan's Nikkei, however, shed 0.13 per cent. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.54 per cent higher yesterday.