The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by a quarter-point Wednesday and projected it would do so twice more this year as concern grows at the central bank about the health of the nations labour market. The move is the Feds first cut since December and lowered its short-term rate to about 4.1% down from 4.3%. Fed officials led by Chair Jerome Powell had kept their rate unchanged this year as they evaluated the impact of tariffs tighter immigration enforcement and other Trump administration policies on inflation and the economy. Yet the central banks focus has shifted quickly from inflation which remains modestly above its 2% target to jobs as hiring has grounded nearly to a halt in recent months and the unemployment rate has ticked higher. Why IT Stocks Rallied After Fed’s Rate Cut? A rate cut in the US is expected to boost spending which benefits Indian IT companies that earn a large share of their revenue from the North American market. After the move LTIMindtree rose nearly 3% to Rs 5573 per share while Infosys Wipro and Mphasis gained around 2% each. Persistent Systems HCL Tech Coforge and Tech Mahindra advanced over 1% and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) also traded nearly 1% higher. Stock Market Surge After Fed Rate Cut Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty started the trade on a buoyant note on Thursday propelled by buying in IT stocks after the US Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points and signalled the possibility of two additional rate reduction this year. The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 447.5 points to 83141.21 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 118.7 points to 25448.95. From the Sensex firms Infosys HCL Tech Tech Mahindra HDFC Bank Sun Pharma and Tata Motors were among the major gainers. However Bajaj Finance Tata Steel UltraTech Cement and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the laggards. (With Inputs From PTI)