Sensex Jumps Above 59,500, Nifty Above 17,700

The Sensex and Nifty extended their previous day gains as both indices gained more than 400 and 100 points, respectively in the opening trade on Friday, September 17. The banking stocks contributed the most value in the action with shares of SBI surging to fresh record highs in the morning deals.

At 9:45 AM, the BSE Sensex was up 362.87 points at 59,504.03, and the Nifty-50 added 91.80 points at 17,721.30. Shares of ITC, Bajaj Finance, and Bajaj Finserv were the top gainers in the 30-share pack Sensex as the stocks jumped between 1-2 per cent each. SBI in the morning trade made a new record high of Rs 471.90 after the bank yesterday slashed their home loan interest rates to 6.7 per cent for the festive season. On the flipside, Tata Steel and IndusInd Bank were the top losers in the pack.

Sector-wise in the markets, barring PSU Banks, Metal, and Energy counters, all other sectors were trading in the green with the Banking and Financial names leading the gains. The Nifty Financial index surged around one per cent led by shares of Bajaj Twins as both Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv gained more than three and two per cent, respectively.

In the overall market breadth at the time of filing, 772 shares advanced and 933 shares declined at the time of filing.

What is driving the markets?
As per market experts, the rally is currently driven by strong cues from vaccination front and Covid-19 tally in the country, coupled with better than expected economic progress all around. Furthermore, the FIIs, who sold heavily in the month of June due to valuations and risks in the market have turned net buyers which is a big positive. The FIIs have pumped in Rs 5,344 crore in the last three days, said experts.

"The bulls are unlikely to let go off their grip on the market till 18000 on the Nifty/ 60000 on Sensex is reached," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Tracking the fund data, Foreign institutional investors net purchased shares worth Rs 1,621.88 crore, while domestic institutional investors offloaded shares worth Rs 795.13 crore in the Indian equity market on September 16, as per provisional data available on the exchanges.