Share Market Today: India’s benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty 50, tumble down in early morning trade on Thursday, December 19, 2024. The Sensex (index with top 30 firms) tumbled by 1,162.12 points to 79,020.08 level. Nifty50 (index with top 50 firms) declined to reach 23,870.30 points. Meanwhile, this decline came after the US Federal Reserve (US Fed) has cut its benchmark interest rate by 0.25% to a range of 4.25-4.50%.

Earlier, experts predicted that Indian stock markets (Sensex and Nifty) may open lower today, influenced by global cues after the US Fed’s rate cut. Meanwhile, Asian markets too fell on Thursday, following Wall Street’s sharp decline. Investors now shift their focus to Japan. They are expecting the central bank of the country to keep interest rates very low. Furthermore, Japan’s Nikkei experienced the fall of 1.4%, Topix dropped 1.27%, South Korea’s Kospi declined 1.84%, and Australia’s ASX200 tumbled 1.91%.

Wall Street too suffered a significant decline, with the Dow Jones declining 2.58% in its worst 10-day losing streak in over 40 years. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 dropped 2.95% and the Nasdaq declined 3.56%.

Share Market Today: US Fed Decision

The US Federal Reserve (US Fed) has cut its benchmark interest rate by 0.25% to a range of 4.25-4.50%. The decision was made after a two-day meeting. With this, US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and his team have lowered the federal funds rate third time in a row when.

US policymakers have revised their forecasts, predicting 2.5% headline inflation in 2025 in the country. They anticipated inflation not returning to 2% until 2027, and expecting 2.5% growth in 2024 and 2.1% growth in 2025.

Notably, this was the final interest rate decision before President Joe Biden hands over the reins to President-elect Donald Trump.

ALSO READ: US Fed Cuts Benchmark Rate By 0.25%: What It Means For India’s Economy?