Sensex Surges Over 350 Points; UltraTech Cement Top Gainer After Q3 Earnings

Reliance Industries was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 2.55 per cent to Rs 1,997

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes staged a gap up opening on Monday paced by gains in UltraTech Cement, Titan, Bajaj Finance, HDFC, Tech Mahindra, IndusInd Bank and Bajaj Auto. The Sensex rose as much as 385 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 14,491.10. Meanwhile, other Asian shares markets were on the defensive on Monday as rising COVID-19 cases and doubts over the ability of vaccine makers to supply the promised doses on time soured risk appetite.

As of 9:21 am, the Sensex was up 259 points at 49,137 and Nifty 50 index climbed 102 points to 14,474.

Buying was visible across sectors as all the 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Bank index’s over 1 per cent gain. Nifty Financial Services, metal, realty, PSU bank and private bank indexes also rose over 1 per cent each.

Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing buying interest as the Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.6 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.4 per cent.

UltraTech Cement was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose over 4 per cent to hit record high of Rs 5,831 after its profit more than doubled to Rs 1,584.58 crore in the third quarter of the financial year. The company’s revenue from operations stood at Rs 12,254.12 crore, up 17.38 per cent, during the October-December quarter under review as compared to Rs 10,439.34 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

Grasim Industries, Bajaj Finance, HDFC, Bajaj Finserv, JSW Steel, Hero MotoCorp, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Larsen & Toubro and Mahindra & Mahindra also rose between 1-4 per cent.

On the other hand, Reliance Industries was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 2.55 per cent to Rs 1,997 despite reporting highest-ever quarterly profit in December quarter.

Asian Paints, Eicher Motors, Power Grid, Divi’s Labs, Tata Motors, Nestle India, Dr Reddy’s Labs and ITC were also trading with a negative bias.

The overall market breadth was marginally positive as 1,133 shares were advancing while 932 were declining on the BSE.