Mumbai, Dec 14 (PTI) Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty hit their all-time high levels on Thursday tracking a global market rally after the US Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate unchanged and signalled that they expect to make three quarter-point cuts to their benchmark interest rate next year.

Cheering the move, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 796.64 points to hit its all-time peak of 70,381.24 in early trade. The Nifty rallied 222.1 points to reach its record peak of 21,148.45.

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Among the Sensex firms, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Wipro, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Tata Consultancy Services, Bajaj Finserv and ICICI Bank were the major gainers.

Power Grid, Nestle, Asian Paints and Hindustan Unilever were among the laggards.

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In Asian markets, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading in the positive territory while Tokyo quoted lower.

The US markets ended with significant gains on Wednesday.

The Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate unchanged on Wednesday for a third straight time, a sign that it is likely done raising rates after having imposed the fastest string of increases in four decades to fight painfully high inflation.

The Fed's policymakers also signalled that they expect to make three quarter-point cuts to their benchmark interest rate next year.

"The clear dovish message from the Fed yesterday has set the stage for a smart Santa Claus rally in the coming days, and this can even trigger a pre-election rally that can take the markets to a series of new highs.

"The takeaway from the Fed message yesterday is that the tightening cycle is over and three rate cuts are possible in 2024. The record-breaking rally in the Dow will send many indices to new records," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued to remain buyers as they bought equities worth Rs 4,710.86 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.30 per cent to USD 74.48 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark advanced 33.57 points or 0.05 per cent to settle at 69,584.60 on Wednesday. The Nifty gained 19.95 points or 0.10 per cent to 20,926.35.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)