Sensex Gains Over 500 Points To Hit Fresh Record Highs, Nifty Nears 14,800

The benchmark indices gained almost 1 per cent to register fresh record highs in mid-morning trading, making it three successive days of a Budget driven rally that has already catapulted the benchmark indices higher by around 9 per cent. The BSE Sensex touched a record high of 50,321.89 and at 10:50 am, the BSE Sensex was at 50,308.55, higher by 502 points or 1 per cent and the NSE Nifty was at 14, 804.25, up 156.25 points or 1 per cent. The broader markets, including the BSE Midcap index and BSE Smallcap index had also gained more than 1 per cent each.

Pharma stocks were witnessing buying interest. Dr Reddy's zoomed 4 per cent to top the gainers list among BSE Sensex stocks after a report said India is expected to grant emergency use authorization for Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine soon. Cipla and Sun Pharma also gained 3 per cent and 2 per cent respectively. And Tata Motors extended its ongoing rally by another 2 per cent at Rs 330.

On the other hand, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Nestle and HDFC Bank were the top Sensex laggards, slipping around 1 per cent each. 

Among stocks in the news, Future Retail shares shed 5 per cent after the Delhi court blocked Future Group's retail asset sale to Reliance Industries on objections raised by e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. Reliance Industries shares fell 0.98 per cent and was the biggest drag on the index.

On the IPO front, Home First Finance made a modest debut on the bourses. The shares of the Mumbai-based affordable housing finance company opened at a premium of 19 per cent at Rs 612.15 on the BSE, as against issue price of Rs 518 per share. The company's Rs 1,154-crore initial public offering, which was open between January 21 and 25 and was subscribed 27 times. 

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 6,181.56 crore and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 2,035.2 crore in the equity markets on February 2, provisional data available on the NSE. The S&P BSE Sensex had rallied 1,197.11 points or 2.46 per cent to 49,797.72 and NSE Nifty had climbed 366.70 points or 2.57 per cent to 14,647.90.

The BSE market breadth was strong. Out of 2,238 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1,423 advancing stocks as against 708 declines.