Mkt rises on strong buying in pharma, banking stocks

Mumbai Equity gauges Sensex and Nifty rallied for the fourth straight session on Monday on hectic buying in mainly pharma, power and banking shares as investors brushed aside concerns over rising coronavirus cases amid positive global cues.

At the closing bell, the 30-share BSE index quoted 295.94 points or 0.60 per cent higher at 49,502.41. Over the last four sessions, the Sensex has gained 1,248.90 points or 2.58 per cent. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty jumped 119.20 points or 0.80 per cent to 14,942.35 – taking its total gains over the four days to 445.85 points or 3.07 per cent. On Monday, L&T was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying over 4 per cent, followed by Dr Reddy's, Sun Pharma, NTPC, PowerGrid, IndusInd Bank, ONGC and M&M. On the other hand, UltraTech Cement, Infosys, Reliance Industries, HCL Tech and Axis Bank were five losers among the 30 shares. Sectorally, BSE metal, capital goods, healthcare, power, utilities and industrials indices rose up to 3.53 per cent, while IT was in the red. Broader midcap and smallcap indices rallied up to 0.97 per cent.

"Domestic equities continued to defy concerns of rising Covid-19 cases and extended mobility restrictions by several states by extending gains for the fourth consecutive trading day," said Binod Modi Head-Strategy at Reliance Securities. Favourable global cues, steady March quarter earnings along with favourable commentary, liquidity support announced by the RBI and absence of nationwide lockdown have aided domestic equities to shrug off rising Covid-19 cases in the country, he further noted. Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said, "Domestic bourses continued to ride on its optimistic wave mirroring strong across-the-board buying with metals, auto and pharma stocks leading the rally."

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul ended on a positive note, while Hong Kong was in the red. Stock exchanges in Europe were largely trading with losses in mid-session deals. The Indian rupee ended 16 paise higher at 73.35 against the US dollar on Monday. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.53 per cent higher at $68.64 per barrel.