Sensex skyrockets 917 pts to settle at 40,789.38

Mumbai: Market gauge Sensex on Tuesday shot up 917 points to clock its best day in over four months, recouping losses incurred in a brutal sell-off on Budget day, as investors globally seemed gathering confidence amid efforts to contain coronavirus.

Rising for the second straight session, the BSE benchmark closed at 40,789.38, up 2.30 per cent or 917.07 points. This was the biggest single-day rise for the Sensex since September 23, 2019.

Likewise, the broader NSE Nifty settled at 11,979.65, surging 2.32 per cent or 271.75 points — gaining the most in a single day in over four months.

Giving a thumbs down to the much-awaited Union Budget, the Sensex took a massive plunge on last Saturday to mark its worst session in over a decade as the government failed to meet market expectations.

But the benchmark indices gaining for the last two sessions shows investors have shrugged off Budget disappointment and focussing now on other market moving factors like corporate earnings and macroeconomic data.

Investors cheered the country's manufacturing sector activity climbing to a near eight-year high in January, helping domestic stocks end higher on Monday — the very first session after Budget.

On Tuesday, Titan was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying 7.97 per cent, followed by ITC, HDFC, Bajaj Finance, and Tata Steel.

On the other hand, Bajaj Auto and HUL were on the losing side. All sectoral indices ended with gains with BSE consumer durables, metal, oil and gas, energy realty and finance indices rallying up to 3.52

per cent.