The Indian equity benchmarks extended gains led by gains in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Infosys, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Larsen & Toubro and Axis Bank. The Sensex rose as much as 583 points to hit an intraday high of 50,327.31 and Nifty 50 index climbed 179 points to move above 14,850.
As of 10:52 am, the Sensex rallied 501 points to 50,246 and Nifty rose 147 points to 14,823.
Reliance Industries was top mover in the benchmarks, the stock advanced over 2 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 2,050 after the company said that it plans to get approvals to hive off its oil-to-chemicals business by September quarter of next fiscal year. Gain in Reliance Industries alone contributed over 100 points towards the Sensex.
ONGC was top gainer in the Sensex, the stock rose 6 per cent to Rs 113. Larsen & Toubro, TCS, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, IndusInd Bank, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, ITC and Bajaj Finserv also rose between 1-2 per cent.
On the flipside, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki and Asian Paints were among the notable losers.
Buying was visible across sectors as all the 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Metal index’s nearly 2 per cent gain. Nifty IT, PSU Bank, Bank, Auto and Financial Service indexes also rose between 0.7-1.5 per cent.
Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indexes advanced 1 per cent each.
The market breadth remained positive as 1,655 shares were advancing while 887 were declining on the BSE.