Sensex regains 51K mark, Nifty soars above 15,000

Mumbai: Continuing their winning run for the third session in a row, the BSE Sensex surged nearly 1,148 points

to breach the 51,000-level

and the NSE Nifty recaptured the 15,200-mark on Wednesday, propped up by intense buying in financial and energy

stocks.

Investors' wealth has jumped by a massive Rs 9.41 lakh crore during three successive days of gains in the domestic equity market.

At the closing bell, the 30-share Sensex was up 1,147.76 points or 2.28 per cent at 51,444.65 - the biggest single-day rise since February 2. Intra-day, the index swung 1,243 points.

Likewise, the NSE Nifty climbed 326.50 points or 2.19 per cent to end at 15,245.60 with 43 of its constituents closing in the green.

Over the last three sessions, the Sensex has risen by 2,344.66 points or 4.77 per cent while the Nifty has added 716.45 points or 4.93 per cent.

The Sensex rally was driven by Bajaj FinServ, Reliance

Industries, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, HDFC and Axis Bank. Of the 30 Sensex constituents, 27 closed in the green.

Bajaj Finserv rose the most by 5.15 per cent.

Reliance Industries rose by 4.52 per cent a day after its

telecom arm emerged as lead buyer in spectrum auctions. Reliance Jio picked up 488.35 MHz of spectrum in bands such as 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz for Rs 57,122.65 crore.

Analysts said strengthening of spectrum footprints by Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio in the auctions is expected to yield market share gains for the two telcos.

Bharti Airtel, which bid about Rs 18,699 crore to pick up 355.45 Megahertz, rose by 0.92 per cent.

Meanwhile, a monthly

survey said that India's services activity expanded at the

fastest rate in a year during

February amid improved demand and more favourable market conditions.

Foreign investors had bought equities worth Rs 2,223.16 crore on net basis in Indian capital markets on Tuesday, exchange data showed.

Sectorally, all indices closed with gains barring auto. BSE energy surged 3.74 per cent, metal climbed 3.23 per cent, finance rose 2.80 per cent and bank gained 2.75

per cent.

The nifty bank which had a rough week so far took a breather and led the rally while consolidation was seen on auto stocks.

In the broader market, smallcap, midcap and largecap indices underperformed the benchmark.

Meanwhile, Brent Futures rose by 1.84 per cent to trade at $63.77 per barrel.