Mumbai, Sep 14 : The stock markets hit a new high this week as the rate-cut optimism globally has provided a positive impetus across the global markets, industry watchers said on Saturday.

The European Central Bank (ECB) this week lowered its deposit rate by 25 basis points to 3.50 per cent to boost tepid growth.

The US Federal Reserve is set to announce its interest rate decision on September 18 after a two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

Analysts said that the market focus will be on the upcoming FOMC meeting, while domestic market direction will also be influenced by domestic corporate earnings, which are forecasted to improve in Q2 FY25 on a QoQ basis.

This week, the domestic indices overcame last week's negative sentiments stirred by SEBI's deadline over FIIs disclosure norms and recession fears in the US.

Despite volatility, DIIs and FIIs flows remained positive as a strong monsoon, and an expectation of an uptick in demand during festive season drove investor sentiment, said experts.

On Thursday, equity indices closed in the green. Intraday, both Sensex and Nifty made a new all-time high of 83,116 and 25,433, respectively. Almost all indices closed in the green. Auto, IT, PSU, fin Service, pharma, metal and energy were major gainers.

According to Crisil Market Intelligence and Analytics, domestic G-sec bond yields are likely to be influenced by factors such as foreign portfolio investor (FPI) flows, crude oil price movements, the FOMC meeting and domestic inflows into the debt market.

The 10-year G-sec yield is expected to hinge on FPI flows, crude prices, global interest rates, the CPI inflation print, policy decisions of the RBI's MPC and the FOMC and the US presidential elections.

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst, LKP Securities said Nifty has been sustaining above the critical 21-day EMA, a near-term moving average and the trend is expected to remain strong, as the index closed above the recent consolidation high.

/IANS