Stock market extends winning steak; PSU bank at new high
Sensex closed 487 points, or 0.66%, higher at 74,339.44 while the Nifty closed the day with a gain of 168 points, or 0.75%, at 22,570.35 on the monthly F&O expiry day.
Equity benchmarks’ budget bull run continued on Wednesday as Sensex and Nifty ended nearly 1 per cent higher, led by broad-based gains amid positive cues from global markets.
The S&P BSE Sensex rallied 458.03 points or 0.92 per cent to end at 50,255.75 for the first time ever.
The Sensex had earlier touched a record intra-day high of 50,526.39, backed by heavy buying in HDFC twins, Axis Bank and Infosys.
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Likewise, the broader NSE Nifty surged 142.10 points or 0.97 per cent to its fresh closing record of 14,789.95. It touched an all-time high of 14,868.85 during the day.
On the Sensex pack, gainers were led by IndusInd Bank, zooming around 8 per cent, followed by PowerGrid, Dr Reddy’s, Sun Pharma, NTPC and Axis Bank.
On the other hand, laggards included UltraTech Cement, Maruti, ITC, Kotak Bank and Asian Paints.
In the broader markets the MidCap and SmallCap ended with gains at 1.4 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively.
“Domestic equities continued to remain in the grip of bulls and broader indices made fresh record highs today,” said Binod Modi, Head Strategy at Reliance Securities.
Optimism, created after the announcement of bold measures in the Union Budget continued to attract investors. Favourable global cues also supported the market rally. Notably, market cap of Indian market is just fraction away from surpassing Rs 200 trillion levels, he added.
Growing optimism among investors after bold and pro-growth Budget helped market to rebound sharply in the last three days, he said, adding that the underlying strength of the domestic market remains intact.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo ended with gains, while Shanghai was in the red.
Stock exchanges in Europe were also trading on a positive note in early deals.
Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.36 per cent higher at USD 58.01 per barrel.
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