Sensex regains 50k on drop in new Covid cases

MUMBAI: Backed by strong buying in

banking

and

financials

as well as Reliance Industries, mainly because of the daily fall in numbers of new

Covid

cases, the sensex on Tuesday closed above the 50k mark after more than one and half months. The 30-share index closed 613 points higher at 50,193. On the NSE, the Nifty closed 185 points higher at 15,108 — also a month-high level. Mid and

smallcap

stocks saw some hectic buying, brokers said.


“The frontline indices closed the day’s trading with over 1.2% gains, while the midcap index (up 1.9%) and the smallcap index (1.3%) clocked much higher gains. The fall in the total number of new Covid cases across the country below the 3-lakh-per-day mark and the likely enhanced availability of vaccines in the coming weeks helped repair sentiment to a certain extent,” Emkay Wealth Management head (research) Joseph Thomas wrote in a post-market note.

In the coming days, the “market may focus on the sustainability of the gains in the fight against the pandemic”, and the inflation numbers in light of rising fuel prices to get more comfort on the growth front”, Thomas added.

Among the sensex stocks, HDFC Bank contributed the most to the sensex’s rise, followed by RIL and Bajaj Finance. Of the 30 index constituents, five closed in the red with Bharti Airtel, down 2.4%, contributing the most to the loss.

The day’s rally also added nearly Rs 3 lakh crore to investors’ wealth with BSE’s market capitalisation now at Rs 218.7 lakh crore. In the last one month, BSE’s m-cap grew almost Rs 15 lakh crore.

Technically, the Nifty crossing 15k is a major milestone for the index. According to Kotak Securities’s executive VP (equity technical research) Shrikant Chouhan, the Nifty closing above 15,100 (on Tuesday) is definitely a positive for the market. We may see consolidation between the levels of 15,000 and 15,200. However, in the near term, markets have set targets of 15,450 and 15,600.”


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