Sensex, Nifty scale fresh peaks as inflation cools off

equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty hit their fresh record levels on Thursday after lower inflation numbers raised hopes of an interest rate cut by the RBI.

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty hit their fresh record levels on Thursday after lower inflation numbers raised hopes of an interest rate cut by the RBI.

Besides, heavy buying in capital goods, consumer durable and industrial stocks also helped the indices, traders said.

Retail inflation continued its downward slide to reach a one-year low of 4.75% in May due to a marginal decline of prices in the food basket and remained within the Reserve Bank's comfort zone of below 6%, according to government data released on Wednesday.

Rising for the second day in a row, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 538.89 points or 0.70 to hit its lifetime peak of 77,145.46. It later ended at a fresh record high at 76,810.90; up 204.33 points or 0.27%.

The NSE Nifty rallied 75.95 points or 0.33% to settle at a new closing high of 23,398.90. During the day, it climbed 158.1 points or 0.67% to its record peak of 23,481.05.

Among the 30 Sensex companies, Mahindra & Mahindra, Titan, Larsen & Toubro, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, Bajaj Finance and Nestle were the biggest gainers.

On the other hand, Hindustan Unilever, Power Grid, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank and ITC were among the laggards.