Sensex, Nifty at two-year highs; Tata Motors top gainer

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices gained 0.4% each

The benchmark indices on Thursday hit their respecttwo-year highs, taking cues from a strong rally on Wall Street after the Dow Jones index closed above 21,000 mark for the first time ever, indicating investors are reposing faith in US economy and aren’t unduly worried about the looming interest rate hike. 

The S&P BSE Sensex rose as much as 0.5% or 148 points to 29133 points, a level last seen on March 13, 2015. The broader Nifty50 rallied 0.5% or 44 points to 8,989, a level last seen on March 4, 2015. 

At 10:44 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 29,100, up 116 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 8,981, up 35 points. 

The broader indices mirrored the gains in the frontline indices with BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices gaining 0.5% each.

“For the coming session, 8,982 would be seen as immediate resistance; but sooner or later, we expect the Nifty to surpass this hurdle and move beyond the 9,000 mark. On the flipside, intraday supports are seen at 8,927-8,898 levels,” said brokerage Angel Broking in a technical note. 

On Wednesday, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 198 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 254 crore.

Buzzing stocks

Tata Motors added over 3% to Rs 463 and was the top Sensex gainer after the auto major reported a rise of 2% in its total vehicle sales for last month. According to the company, its total passenger and commercial vehicle sales, including exports, in February 2017 rose to 47,573 units from 46,674 units sold in the like month of last year.

Among decliners, shares of DLF shed nearly 3% to Rs 149 after the company decided to sell 40% of the stake in the company’s rental arm DCCDL for an estimated Rs 12,500 crore-Rs 13,000 crore to an affiliate of Singapore-based private equity firm GIC. 

Shares of Wockhardt tanked over 5% on Thursday after the drug major said its step-down unit in the US, Morton Grove Pharmaceuticals Inc, has received a warning letter from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
 

Trump talks soft 

Trump on Tuesday said he wanted to boost the US economy with a "massive" tax relief and make a $1 trillion push on infrastructure, bets that have helped Wall Street scale fresh records since the election.

But it was a break in Trump's often-abrasive speaking style that encouraged many investors who have worried he may struggle to push his agenda through a Congress reluctant to widen the government's budget deficit.

Fed rate hike in March?

The US Federal Reserve looks set to hike interest rates in its next policy meeting on March 14-15 as leading policymakers including Chair Janet Yellen indicated the global economy seemed to have turned a corner, clearing the way for a rate hike “fairly soon”. 

New internal Fed rules on public communications make Friday the last chance to set up market expectations before the next Fed meeting, reported Reuters. 

Traders have now priced in a nearly 70% chance of a rate hike when the Fed's policy-setting body meets on March 14-15, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Global markets

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average blasted through the 21,000-point mark for the first time. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 rallied around 1.4%. 

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.7%, led by rebounds in Australian and Hong Kong shares.

Japan's Nikkei rose 1.3% to a 14-month high, while China’s Shanghai Composite bucked the trend to lose 0.2%.

(With inputs from Reuters)