Mumbai, Oct. 29 -- Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty rallied more than 1 per cent on Thursday, led by heavy buying in banking, FMCG, and IT shares, amid easing crude oil prices and a pause in US Federal Reserve rate hikes.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 905.01 points, or 1.24 per cent, to close at a more-than-a-week-high of 74,151.04. As many as 26 Sensex shares advanced and four closed lower.

The 50-share NSE Nifty settled 237.90 points, or 1.05 per cent, higher at 22,936.75.

Among the Sensex constituents, Adani Ports emerged as the biggest gainer by rising over 5 per cent after the company reported an 18 per cent increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 3,682.44 crore for the September quarter, driven by higher revenue.

Kotak Mahindra Bank rose by 3.86 per cent, Power Grid 3.70 per cent, Eternal, 3.46 per cent, Bajaj Finance 2.56 per cent, State Bank of India 2.43 per cent, and Hindustan Unilever by 2.43 per cent. Titan, NTPC, Bharat Electronics Ltd and Infosys also closed in positive territory.

Trent, Maruti Suzuki India, Tech Mahindra and HDFC Bank were among the laggards.

"Indian equities rallied as the US Fed's rate pause, marginal easing in crude and renewed institutional buying improved risk appetite despite a challenging external backdrop.

"FMCG led gains on resilient consumer demand, while financials, IT, realty and power strengthened, with mid- and small-caps also participating, signalling healthier market breadth," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Ltd.

He said the broader thesis remains supported by selective earnings resilience and domestic demand stability, although elevated input costs could test margin durability. However, elevated Brent, rupee weakness, rising domestic bond yields and prevailing geopolitical uncertainty remain key risks.

Among BSE sectoral indices, Utilities climbed the most by 3.11 per cent, followed by PSU Bank (2.63 per cent), Realty (2.44 per cent), FMCG (1.94 per cent), Services (1.77 per cent), Power (1.63 per cent), Consumer Durables (1.55 per cent), and Telecommunication (1.30 per cent).

Auto was the only laggard among the sectoral indices.

The rupee consolidated in a narrow range and rose 2 paise to close at 95.26 against the US dollar on Thursday, supported by positive domestic markets and softening crude oil prices.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell 1.18 per cent to $113.96 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 871.83 crore on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were also net buyers of shares worth Rs 643.35 crore, according to the exchange data.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.