The Indian stock market benchmarks—the Sensex and the Nifty 50—rose nearly a percent each to hit fresh all-time highs in intraday trade on Friday, July 12. Gains were led by select IT and banking heavyweights, which played a pivotal role in driving the market's performance.

The Nifty 50 hit a new peak of 24,592.20, while the Sensex reached a fresh high of 80,893.51 during the session. By the close, the Nifty 50 had jumped 186 points, or 0.77%, to settle at a fresh closing high of 24,502.15. The Sensex also marked its fresh closing high at 80,519.34, gaining 622 points or 0.78%.

While the primary indices surged, the mid and smallcap segments saw some selling pressure. The BSE Midcap index ended 0.22% lower, and the Smallcap index declined by 0.13%. Despite this, the overall market capitalization of firms listed on the BSE rose to nearly ₹452.4 lakh crore from approximately ₹451.2 lakh crore in the previous session, enriching investors by nearly ₹1.2 lakh crore in a single session.

A notable 285 stocks, including Axis Bank, Federal Bank, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Persistent Systems, ONGC, and Zomato, hit their fresh 52-week highs in intraday trade on the BSE.

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Why Did the Indian Stock Market Rise Today?

Market sentiment was buoyed by TCS's better-than-expected Q1 earnings, further amplified by a slower-than-anticipated rise in the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation.

TCS reported an 8.72% YoY rise in its consolidated net profit to ₹12,040 crore for Q1FY25. Its revenue for the quarter grew 2.2% QoQ in constant currency (CC), surpassing the estimates of 1.5% QoQ growth. Experts viewed TCS's earnings as indicative of potential recovery in the IT sector. The stock closed with a substantial gain of 6.68% at ₹4184.90, leading both the Sensex and the Nifty 50 indices.

Several other IT stocks also saw impressive gains on Friday. TCS (up 6.59%), Wipro (up 4.66%), HCL Tech (up 3.30%), Infosys (up 3.25%), Tech Mahindra (up 3.04%), and LTIMindtree (up 2.93%) were the top gainers in the Nifty 50 index. The Nifty IT index hit its 52-week high of 39,237.70 and closed with a significant gain of 4.53% at 39,023, with all 10 components in the green.

The impressive performance of TCS Q1 results triggered a massive rally in other IT stocks, propelling the Sensex close to the 81,000 mark in early trades. However, profit-taking in realty and other sectoral stocks trimmed the gains as investors cut their positions amid stretched valuations following the recent spike.

Apart from the strong start of Q1 earnings, a third straight month of declining US inflation further fueled optimism. This trend suggested that the beginning of the rate cut cycle might be near.

The US CPI dropped 0.1% month-on-month in June against expectations of a 0.1% rise. Year-on-year, the CPI rose 3% compared to 3.3% in May. Fed Chair Jerome Powell, in his testimony this week, mentioned that the US economy was no longer overheated and highlighted the risks of maintaining high interest rates for an extended period. There are growing hopes that the US central bank may cut rates in its September meeting.

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