The Indian equity benchmarks surged on Thursday, in-line with other Asian peers, ahead of monthly futures and options expiry for the month of April. The Sensex rose as much as 642 points to trade above 50,000 mark and Nifty 50 index reclaimed its important psychological level of 15,000. Reliance Industries, HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Infosys were among the top movers in the Sensex.
As of 9:22 am, the Sensex was up 621 points to 50,354 and Nifty 50 index advanced 168 points to 15,032.
Asian shares rose in early trade on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it was too early to consider rolling back emergency support for the economy, and as U.S. President Joe Biden unveiled plans for a $1.8 trillion stimulus package.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that “it is not time yet” to begin discussing any change in policy after the U.S. central bank left interest rates and its bond-buying programme unchanged, despite taking a more optimistic view of the country’s economic recovery.
Buying was visible across the board as all the 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Metal index’s over 2.5 per cent gain. Nifty Financial Services, Bank, PSU Bank, Private Bank and IT indices also rose between 0.5-2 per cent.
Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.9 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 1 per cent.
Tata Steel was top gainer in the Nifty 50 basket of shares. The stock rose 4.25 per cent to hit fresh 52-week high of 1,015.60. Hindalco, IndusInd Bank, JSW Steel, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Adani Ports, Grasim Industries, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HCL Technologies and ONGC also rose between 1.6-3.6 per cent.
On the flipside, Tata Consumer Products, Cipla, Eicher Motors, Sun Pharma and Divi’s Labs were among the notable losers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,605 shares were advancing while 620 were declining on the BSE.