Sensex Surges Over 1,500 Points To Reclaim 50,000; Nifty Bank Touches Record High

The Indian equity benchmarks extended their Budget-day rally for second straight session wherein the Sensex climbed over 1,400 points to reclaim its important psychological level of 50,000 and Nifty 50 index advanced over 400 points or nearly 3 per cent to trade above 14,700. The benchmarks recorded their best performance on a budget day in over two decades after the finance minister announced a slew of measures to revive the pandemic-hit economy. Meanwhile, other Asian stock markets extended gains on Tuesday on increased optimism about stimulus packages and global economic recovery, while retail investors retreated from GameStop and their new-found interest in silver.

As of 10:00 am, the Sensex rose 1,398 points to 50,005 and Nifty 50 index climbed 398 points to 14,705.

Record high spending on infrastructure and healthcare proposed in Budget 2021 and government's intent to revive the pandemic-hit economy is boosting the investors' sentiment on Dalal Street, analysts said.

"It has been a picture perfect rally in last two sessions with the broader indices clocking record Budget Day gains in last 20 years & extending them today as well. Leadership baton has moved from Nifty to Bank Nifty and Nifty Financial Services in last four sessions with the latter hitting fresh all time highs. Although some profit booking can be expected, but we expect stock specific action to continue. After a brief pause, we may see the Nifty aiming for the magical mark of 15,000 by Feb expiry," Rahul Sharma, Head - Technical & Derivatives Research, JM Financial Services said.

Buying was visible across sectors as all the 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by nearly 4 per cent gain in Nifty Bank and Financial Services indices. Auto, FMCG, IT, Infra, Metal and IT indexes also rose between 1.5-3 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 climbed 2.34 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 1.64 per cent.

Tata Motors was top gainer in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock rose 9 per cent to hit fresh 52-week high of Rs 306.90. UPL, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, Grasim Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra and Hindalco also rose between 3-8 per cent.

On the flipside, Hero MotoCorp, HDFC Life, Hindustan Unilever and Dr Reddy's Labs were among the notable losers.

The overall market breadth was extremely positive as 1,703 shares were advancing while 487 were declining on the BSE.