Markets soar for second day; Sensex rises by 593 points to settle above 37,980

Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty surged as much as 1.6 per cent on Monday, lifted by intense buying in financial stocks on hopes of capital support to public sector banks and stimulus measures for the economy.

The BSE Sensex settled 592.97 points or 1.59 per cent higher at 37,981.63, while the NSE Nifty surged 177.30 points or 1.60 per cent to 11,227.55 — the second straight session of rise for the indices.

In the Sensex pack, IndusInd Bank was the top gainer, rising around 8 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, PowerGrid, ONGC, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank and M&M.

On the other hand, Hindustan Unilever, Infosys and Nestle ended in the red.

All sectoral indices ended with gains, with BSE power, bankex, auto, realty, utilities, finance and metal rallying up to 3.40 per cent. Broader midcap and smallcap indices surged outperformed the benchmark, rising up to 2.68 per cent.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said global cues were also positive following positive industrial profits data from China, setting aside concerns about the increasing virus infections and related impact.

Indian markets were also banking on further stimulus and other measures by the government to boost the economy, he said.

Bourses in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul ended on a positive note, while Shanghai was in the red.

Stock exchanges in Europe were trading with strong gains in early deals.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.68 per cent lower at $42.12 per barrel.

In the forex market, the rupee settled 18 paise lower at 73.79 against the US dollar.