Sensex reclaims 50,000 as market rises for 2nd day

Mumbai: Benchmark BSE Sensex spurted by 447 points to close above the psychological 50,000-mark on Tuesday following hectic buying in auto and IT counters amid positive domestic and global cues. The 30-share index swung nearly 633 points during the session before ending at 50,296.89, showing a rise of 447.05 points or 0.90 per cent.

Likewise, the NSE Nifty climbed 157.55 points or 1.07 per cent to settle at 14,919.10, extending gains to a second day. Among Sensex stocks, Mahindra & Mahindra was lead gainer rising by 4.98 per cent.

NTPC rose by 3.83 per cent, Bajaj Auto by 3.53 per cent, and Tech Mahindra by 3.44 per cent. TCS, Maruti, Infosys, HCL Tech, Nestle and Bharti Airtel were among the gainers. On the other hand, ONGC, HDFC, Dr Reddy's, PowerGrid and SBI suffered losses.

Of the Sensex constituents, 25 shares ended with gains. Sectorally, BSE auto surged the most with 3.18 per cent gains, followed by IT (2.85 per cent), teck (2.84 per cent) and industrials (2.20 per cent).

All the 19 sectoral indices closed in the green. Broader smallcap, midcap and largecap indices too rallied 1.60 per cent, 1.55 per cent and 1.11 per cent, respectively - outperforming the benchmark. Analysts said investor sentiment remained upbeat due to encouraging GDP numbers for the third quarter as well as returning of calmness in global bond markets after the last week's turmoil.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said, "An improved outlook post-February auto sales numbers resulted in continued buying in auto stocks with IT sector also being a major contributor in the rally".

S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities said that markets exhibited buoyancy today despite its share of volatility in afternoon trade. IT stocks and auto stocks led the rally while the broader market saw keen interest in paper stocks on rising product prices.

A strong buying was seen in midcap and smallcap packs and outperformed broader indices as visible earnings recovery is attracting investors in this space. Notably, the volatility index contracted sharply for the second consecutive day by over 6 per cent, Binod Modi, Head - Strategy at Reliance Securities said.

"Concerns pertaining to rising bond yields appear to have softened a bit after central bankers across the world have begun to push back against higher rates."This should offer some comfort to Indian equities and INR as rising bond yields in the USA and declining spread between USA Treasury yields and India's GSec yields had started putting pressure on Rs," Modi said.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong closed with losses after a selloff in US Treasury debt eased. Meanwhile, Brent Futures rose 0.71 per cent to trade at 63.76 per barrel. On the forex market front, the rupee surged by 18 paise to close at 73.37 against the US dollar on Tuesday.