Sensex reclaims 50k mark on positive global cues

Mumbai: Indian equities started the new fiscal on a strong note on Thursday, with the BSE Sensex surging over 520 points to settle above the 50,000-level on across-the-board buying by participants amid positive global cues.

At the closing bell, the 30-share BSE index quoted 520.68 points or 1.05 per cent higher at 50,029.83, driven by gains in banking, IT and energy stocks. Of the Sensex stocks, 25 closed in the green.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty rose 176.65 points or 1.2 per cent to settle at 14,867.35. IndusInd Bank, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finance and Ultratech Cement were prominent gainers. State-run SBI rose 1.7 per cent amid a rally in public sector banks. On the other hand, HUL, Nestle, HDFC Bank, TCS, Titan and Tech Mahindra suffered losses. "Domestic equities shrugged-off Covid-19 spikes on favourable global cues and recovered sharply mainly led by strong buying in financials and automobile stocks. Strong monthly volume for March helped auto stocks attract investors' interest," Binod Modi, Head - Strategy at Reliance Securities, said. Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.6 per cent lower at $63.95 per barrel. Elsewhere in Asia, bourses clocked gains as the announcement of US infrastructure stimulus plan boosted investor sentiment globally.

"Markets across the globe were boosted by (US President) Biden's $2.3 trillion spending plan. The rally in the domestic market was led by positive cues from global peers, strong buying in metal stocks and recovery in the banking sector. Metal stocks outshined other sectoral indices on reports of possible price hike," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Servicessaid.