Sensex Closes Higher by 450 Points, Nifty Settles Above 14,750

Dr Reddy’s, Sun Pharma, Divi’s Labs and Cipla raced ahead by 4-5 per cent each on BSE

The BSE Sensex closed higher by almost 1 per cent on Wednesday to end above the 50,000 mark for the first time, albeit off all-time highs registered during the day, as the post-Budget buying euphoria continued unabated for the third straight day. The BSE Sensex ended the day at 50,255.75, higher by 458.03 points or 0.92 per cent after touching an all-time high of 50,526.39 earlier in the day. The NSE Nifty surpassed the 14,750 mark to end at 14,789.95, up 142.10 points or 0.97 per cent.

The BSE Sensex has now gained around 3,500 points in the past three sessions alone, thereby erasing the losses seen in last week. 

The broader markets outperformed the large-cap counterparts, with the BSE Midcap index and BSE Smallcap index gaining 1.3 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively. All the BSE sectoral indices ended in the green, with the exception of the realty and FMCG indices. The BSE Healthcare index was the top sectoral gainer on the BSE, zooming 2.4 per cent.

The global markets supported the momentum back home; there was green across the Asian bourses, sans China, and European markets also opened higher by 0.7 per cent each across the board on renewed hopes of a stimulus in the United States.

Meanwhile, the rupee settled flat to 72.95 against dollar amid firm domestic equities.

IndusInd Bank galloped 7.4 per cent to Rs 1,048 to top the gainer’s charts on the BSE. Pharma stocks hogged the limelight, with Dr Reddy’s, Sun Pharma, Divi’s Labs and Cipla racing ahead by 4-5 per cent each on the BSE.

On the other hand, Shree Cements, Maruti Suzuki and Ultra Tech Cement were among the laggards, registering losses in the range of 0.8 per cent to 1.5 per cent each on the BSE.

Among stocks in the news, Future Retail shares shed 5 per cent to Rs 78 after the Delhi court blocked Future Group’s retail asset sale to Reliance Industries on objections raised by e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. Reliance Industries shares, however, recovered from early losses and ended marginally higher by 0.2 per cent.

On the IPO front, Home First Finance made a modest debut on the bourses. The shares of the Mumbai-based affordable housing finance company opened at a premium of 19 per cent at Rs 612.15 on the BSE, as against issue price of Rs 518 per share. However, the shares surrendered almost all their gains to end the day at Rs 527.40, up 1.8 per cent, on the BSE.

The BSE market breadth was strong. Out of 3,141 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1,784 advancing stocks as against 1,202 declines.