Sensex surges 1,128 points, Nifty settles near 14,850; IT, metals, pharma stocks rise

The benchmark equity indices on the BSE and National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended over 2 per cent higher on Tuesday led by gains across sectors and positivity in the global market.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 1,128.08 points (2.30 per cent) to end above the 50,000-mark at 50,136.58. Likewise, the broader Nifty 50 too gained 337.80 points (2.33 per cent) to close at 14,845.10.

On the BSE benchmark, HDFC Bank was the top contributor of the day followed by Infosys, Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), Reliance Industries (RIL) and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

Among the sectoral indices on NSE, the Nifty IT index was the top gainer on Tuesday gaining 2.90 per cent led by gains in the shares of MphasiS and MindTree. It was followed by the Nifty Metal index which rose 2.79 per cent aided by MOIL. The Nifty Pharma index too followed closely with a 2.72 per cent gain on Tuesday led by Cadila Healthcare, Divi’s Laboratories and Biocon.

Apart from these, the key Nifty Bank index inched up 1.67 per cent led by HDFC Bank, Bank of Baroda and ICICI Bank.

The Indian markets were closed on Monday on account of Holi.

Global market

Global stock markets rose on Tuesday as investors shook off worries about a hedge fund default that hit international banking stocks overnight and remained focused on the global COVID-19 vaccination programme.

European stocks opened higher with the regional STOXX 600 index up 0.5 per cent. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.6 per cent, Germany’s DAX and Italy’s FTSE MIB rose 0.5 per cent each, and France’s CAC 40 rose 1 per cent.

MSCI’s All Country World Index, which tracks stocks across 49 countries, traded flat. S&P 500 stock futures were off 0.1 per cent.

Sentiment in Asia was mixed early, then turned positive, with most of the region’s major markets trading higher.

–global market input from Reuters