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Sensex, Nifty hit new record highs following decline in retail inflation

The benchmark market indices Sensex and Nifty hit fresh highs in early trade on Thursday, aided by a reduction in retail inflation to a one-year low in May and robust buying in IT sectors. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 538.89 points to a lifetime high of 77,145.46, while the NSE Nifty gained 158.1 points to a record high of 23,481.05, reported PTI.  According to the report, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Nestle, Titan, HCL Technologies, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, and Bajaj Finserv were the top Sensex gainers. Hindustan Unilever and Power Grid were the sole laggards. In Asian markets, Seoul and Hong Kong were up, while Tokyo and Shanghai were down. The majority of US markets closed in positive territory. Retail inflation in India fell to 4.75 per cent in May, the lowest in a year, owing to a small drop in food costs, remaining within the Reserve Bank's comfort zone of less than 6 per cent, the report added.  "There is good news on the inflation front, both in the US and in India. The takeaway from the inflation numbers is that the disinflation process is well on track. From the market perspective, this is positive news, particularly for banking stocks," according to VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. Global oil benchmark Brent crude fell 0.36 per cent to USD 82.30 per barrel. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) purchased securities worth Rs 426.63 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data, the report added.  "The US Fed kept interest rates unchanged for the seventh time in a row at 5.5 per cent. The Fed Chief acknowledged modest progress on inflation as against no progress at all in the last meeting. Markets took this acknowledgement on inflation in a positive stride," said Apurva Sheth, Head of Market Perspectives and Research at SAMCO Securities. On Wednesday, the benchmark BSE index rose 149.98 points, or 0.20 per cent, to 76,606.57. The Nifty ended at a new closing peak of 23,322.95, up 58.10 points, or 0.25 per cent.