Sensex Rallies 364 Points, Nifty Ends Above 15,850; Realty Shares Outperform

The Indian equity benchmarks closed higher on Monday paced by strong buying interest in index heavyweights Reliance Industries, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC, Axis Bank and Titan. The Sensex rose as much as 400 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 15,892.50. Market sentiment turned bullish after government data showed that Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections for July 2021 came in at Rs 1.16 lakh crore, 33 per cent more than the corresponding period of last year. Strong trend in other global markets also added to the bullish sentiment.

The Sensex ended 364 points higher at 52,951 and Nifty 50 index climbed 122 points to close at 15,885.

"Sentiments got the boost as GST collection recovered to a three-month high in July, exceeding Rs 1.1 trillion, as economic activity resumed. 15,950 is an important level in the market if the market sustains above 15,950, we can expect the market to trade till the level of 16,150-16,200. Technical indicators also support positivity in the market," Gaurav Garg, head of research, CapitalVia Global Research said.

European markets were trading higher with England's FTSE 100 index up 1 per cent, France's CAC40 index advancing 0.9 per cent and Germany's DAX climbing 0.3 per cent.

Back home, buying was visible across the board as all the 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty Realty index's nearly 5 per cent gain.

Nifty Auto, Information Technology, PSU Bank and Financial Services indices also rose between 0.8-1 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares outperformed their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 index climbed 1.6 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.85 per cent.

Among the individual shares, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) shares surged more than 7 per cent in a strong market on the news that the board will meet on August 12 to consider splitting shares of the company.

Shares of the Mumbai-based drug maker Bliss GVS Pharma - rose as much as 16 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 124.60 after the company reported strong June quarter earnings. Bliss GVS Pharma's consolidated net profit in quarter ended June 2021 rose 57 per cent to Rs 26 crore compared with Rs 16.65 crore in the same quarter last year. Its revenue from operations advanced 30 per cent to Rs 168 crore versus Rs 129.5 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.

Titan was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 3.6 per cent to close at Rs 1,776 a day ahead of its June quarter earnings. Shree Cements, Bharat Petroleum, Adani Ports, Eicher Motors, Indian Oil, Grasim Industries, Britannia and Mahindra & Mahindra also rose between 2-3.5 per cent.

On the flipside, UPL, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank were among the losers.

The overall market breadth was extremely positive as 2,179 shares ended higher while 1,157 closed lower on the BSE.