Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, ICICI Bank and SBI gained 3-8 per cent each on the BSE
The benchmark indices surged by over a per cent for the third day in a row, on Wednesday, led by strong buying interest in banking and financial stocks. The BSE Sensex ended the session at 49,733.45, higher by 789.70 points or 1.61 per cent and the NSE Nifty closed at 14,864.55, up 211.50 points or 1.44 per cent. The broader markets also witnessed buying interest, the BS E Midcap index rose 0.9 per cent and BSE Smallcap index advanced 0.7 per cent.
Strong quarterly earnings by financial and banking companies have propelled the markets higher, according to analysts.
Both the indexes had seen a sell-off in the past couple of weeks as investors fretted over the economic impact from a furious surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths. The markets have, however, rebounded more than 3 per cent thus far this week as they seem to have factored in the worse on the Covid front.
Investors have also turned their attention to the March-quarter earnings season, with key blue-chip companies such as consumer giant Hindustan Unilever and conglomerate Reliance Industries set to report their results later this week.
The day clearly belonged to the banking and financials space. Bajaj Finance soared more than 8 per cent at Rs 5,280.90 to top the gainers list on the BSE after its net profit in March quarter jumped 42 per cent to Rs 1,346.64 crore. Bajaj Finserv soared nearly 4 per cent after the Pune-based non-banking finance company reported a net profit of Rs 979 crore in January-March quarter, marking an increase of 5 times from Rs 194 crore during the same quarter last year. IndusInd Bank, State Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank also rallied by 2.5 per cent each on the BSE.
On the other hand, metal stocks saw some profit-booking after recent gains. Hindalco, Tata Steel and JSW Steel lost around a per cent each among Sensex shares.
The BSE market breadth was strong. Out of 3,144 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1,784 advancing stocks as against 1,178 declines.