Reliance Industries was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 5.65% to hit an intraday high of Rs 2,090.
The Indian equity benchmarks extended gains in afternoon trading led by gains in Reliance Industries, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharti AIrtel, ITC and Infosys. The Nifty 50 index touched an all-time high of 15,469.65 and 30-shares Sensex jumped as much as 414 points. Decline in daily Covid-19 cases is fuelling the rally in Indian equities.
As of 1:50 pm, the Sensex rose 397 points to 51,512 and Nifty 50 index advanced 127 points or 0.83 per cent to 15,465.
Investors’ sentiment has improved in the recent past due to a steady decline in daily COVID-19 cases nationwide. Earlier this week, the country reported its lowest daily rise of cases in more than a month.
India’s Covid case count rose to over 2.75 crore as 1.86 lakh more tested positive in a day. This is the lowest daily rise in 44 days. The steady dip comes as scientists are studying if the B.1.617 strain is behind the surge in the last two months.
Buying was visible across sectors as eight of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Metal index’s over 1 per cent gain. Nifty Media, Energy, PSU Bank, Realty and FMCG indices also rose between 0.4-0.8 per cent.
On the other hand, pharma and select auto and IT shares were witnessing a mild selling pressure.
Mid- and small-cap shares were trading mixed as Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.3 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 0.1 per cent.
Shares of the country’s most valued company – Reliance Industries – rose as much as 5.65 per cent, its biggest single day gain since March 3, 2021, to hit an intraday high of Rs 2,090 on the back of heavy trading volumes. As many as 12.97 lakh Reliance Industries shares changed hands on the BSE compared with an average of 3.92 lakh shares traded daily in the past two weeks, data from stock exchange showed. Reports suggest that global research firm – Jefferies – has recommended buying Reliance Industries for target price of Rs 2,580 per share.
Adani Ports, Grasim Industries, Coal India, Eicher Motors, Kotak Mahindra Bank, JSW Steel, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, HDFC, Hindalco, Divi’s Labs, Bharat Petroleum and ONGC also rose between 1-3 per cent.
On the flipside, Sun Pharma, Mahindra & Mahindra, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Nestle India, NTPC, ICICI Bank, TCS, Titan, Wipro and Indian Oil were among the losers.