Sensex Up 650 Pts, Nifty Above 17,700 Driven By Banking, Metal Stocks

The Sensex and Nifty extended their opening gains and the Sensex jumped over 650 points (+651.43 at 11:09 am) led by advances in Banking and Metal stocks coupled with a positive support from the foreign markets post signals from the Federal Reserve on reducing the central bank's monthly bond purchases soon. Nifty was up 185.95 points.

The upward movement of stocks started right after the markets opened. At 10:35 AM, the Sensex was up 560.82 points at 59,488.15, while the Nifty-50 was up 165.95 points at 17,712.60. Except for three scrips in the 30-share pack Sensex, all other stocks saw good momentum amid uplifted sentiment across the board. Shares of Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, and SBI were the top index gainers, up more than two per cent each. Whereas on the flipside, ITC, Dr Reddys Labs and UltraTech Cement traded with minor losses.

All sectors in the market witnessed buying interest from investors and were trading green in the morning deals. The Nifty Bank contributed the most in the rally as the index jumped over 700 points or about two per cent led by shares of Axis Bank, SBI, and AU Small Finance Bank as they advanced more than two per cent.

The Nifty Realty sector, which has been in action for past two sessions on the back of slashed stamp duty prices across the country, continued to outperform as the Nifty Realty index traded higher by four per cent. Analysts are bullish on the sector as the counter has gained as much as 12 per cent in the last two sessions amid the world is digesting the Evergrande Crisis, the second largest property developer of China.

How will the markets turn around further?

Experts are of a view that markets will see some consolidation with current valuations and investor sentiment might turn cautious amid any negative news flow from the foreign markets. However, tracking the domestic cues, the active cases in the country have fallen to a six-month low and the government's proactive policies and measures to boost vaccination will keep the markets buoyant and economic progress healthy, said experts.

Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited, said, "With active cases falling to 6-month low, and vaccination robust pace continuing along with Government’s proactive policies, sentiments continue to be buoyant with regards to healthy economic recovery".

He further added that traders should navigate cautiously in the near term.