INDICES TRADE WITH MAJOR GAINS; IT SHARES JUMP

The key equity benchmarks traded with significant gains in mid-morning trade, driven by positive sentiment across global markets. The Nifty traded above 23,050 mark.

IT shares advanced, driven by the US Fed keeping interest rates steady and announcing two rate cuts later in the year, which boosted IT stocks.

At 11:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, advanced 469.87 points or 0.63% to 75,924.07. The Nifty 50 index jumped 146.05 points or 0.64% to 23,053.65.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.48% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.45%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,401 shares rose and 1,356 shares fell. A total of 174 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty IT index advanced 1.50% to 36,766.10. The index declined 1.08% in the past trading session.

Tata Consultancy Services (up 1.95%), HCL Technologies (up 1.78%), Mphasis (up 1.52%), Infosys (up 1.43%) and Tech Mahindra (up 1.42%), Coforge (up 1.25%), Wipro (up 1.24%) and LTIMindtree (up 0.88%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Dev Information Technology (DEV IT) shed 0.08%. The firm secured a noteworthy work order worth Rs 1.4 crore from the National Informatics Centre Services (NICSI) for the development of an integrated finance management system (IFMS).

NCC jumped 3.96% after the company announced that it had received a letter of acceptance (LoA) worth Rs 2,129.60 crore from the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority for construction works in Amaravati Capital City.

Global market:

US Dow Jones index futures was up 126 points, indicating a positive opening in US stocks today.

Most Asian stocks advanced on Thursday following a rally on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve signaled it still sees room to cut interest rates later this year because any increase in inflation due to tariffs will be brief.

The People�s Bank of China kept the 1-year loan prime rate at 3.1% and the 5-year LPR at 3.6%, where they have been since a quarter-percentage-point cut in October. The rate decision follows the U.S. Federal Reserve�s move to hold benchmark interest rates.

On Wednesday, the Fed maintained its benchmark overnight interest rate in the 4.25%-4.50% range and signaled that two quarter-point rate cuts are likely later this year, consistent with its forecast from three months ago. This came even as the central bank Fed cut its US economic growth forecasts and raised projections for price growth. The Fed flagged growing uncertainty over the impact of Trump�s policies on the economy.

As per the the Fed�s quarterly economic projections, real GDP growth is expected to slow to 1.7% by the end of 2025, down from the 2.1% forecast in December. The unemployment rate is projected to rise slightly to 4.4%, compared to the previous estimate of 4.3%. Core inflation is now expected to end the year at 2.8%, up from the prior forecast of 2.5%.

Trump kept up his threats of reciprocal tariffs coming in April 2- a move that is likely to draw more retaliation from major global economies and spark a renewed trade war.

US stocks rallied following the decision amid encouragement that further cuts could be ahead. The Dow jumped 0.92% and the S&P 500 surged just over 1.08%. The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.41%.

Tesla stock rose over 4% after advancing its robotaxi plans in California, and Boeing Co. jumped 7% on positive operational performance updates from its CFO.

Investors will monitor weekly jobless claims data on Thursday, as well as the Philadelphia Fed�s manufacturing survey and a report on existing home sales.

On the quarterly earnings front, Darden Restaurants, Nike, FedEx and Micron Technology are set to report Thursday.

SoftBank announced on Wednesday its plan to acquire chip designer Ampere Computing for $6.5 billion, with the transaction expected to close in the second half of the year

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