The Indian equity benchmarks gained for second straight session on Tuesday led by gains Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro and Bajaj Finance. The Sensex rose as much as 623 points to hit an intraday high of 49,009 and Nifty 50 index moved above its important psychological level of 14,650. The markets gained even as new cases of COVID-19 in the country held above 300,000 for a sixth consecutive day.
The Sensex rose 558 points to close at 48,944 and Nifty 50 index advanced 168 points to settle at 14,653.
Cases in Mumbai have dipped since Maharashtra entered lockdown earlier this month. Other states such as New Delhi and Karnataka have also imposed lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus.
Buying was visible across the board as all the 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty Metal index’s over 2.5 per cent gain. Nifty Bank, Private Bank, PSU Bank, Media and Financial Services indices also rose between 1-2.2 per cent.
Broader markets outperformed their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 1.5 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index climbed nearly 2 per cent.
Hindalco was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 5 per cent to close at Rs 366. Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro, Divi’s Labs, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, IndusInd Bank, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp, JSW Steel and Grasim Industries rose between 1.5-4 per cent.
On the flipside, HDFC Life, SBI Life, Maruti Suzuki, NTPC, Nestle India, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Mahindra & Mahindra and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the notable losers.
The overall market breadth was extremely positive as 1,962 shares ended higher while 996 closed lower on the BSE.