Gains across sectors - led by financial and automobile stocks - pushed the markets higher
Domestic stock markets started Wednesday's session on a positive note, with the benchmark Nifty 50 index opening above the key 10,000 mark, extending gains to the sixth session in a row. The S&P BSE Sensex index climbed up as much as 1.77 per cent - or 597.18 points - to 34,422.71 in the first few minutes of trade, after opening up 359.88 points at 34,185.41. The broader Nifty index spiked to as high as 10,159.35, up 180.25 points from the previous close, having started the day at 10,108.30. Gains across sectors - led by financial and automobile stocks - pushed the markets higher.
At 9:26 am, the Sensex traded 510.81 points - or 1.51 per cent - higher at 34,336.34 while the Nifty was up 154.75 points - or 1.55 per cent - at 10,133.85.
Equities elsewhere in Asia followed a global rally as hopes of more stimulus bolstered riskier assets and overshadowed a host of other worries from the coronavirus to Hong Kong and growing US civil unrest.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was last seen trading up 1.48 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei benchmark was up 1.67 per cent.
China's Shanghai Composite, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and South Korea's KOSPI indices were up 0.51 per cent, 1.37 per cent and 2.58 per cent respectively at the time.
The E-Mini S&P 500 futures rose 0.30 per cent in early Asian trade, indicating a positive start for US markets on Wednesday.
Overnight in Wall Street, a late-session rally pushed benchmark indices sharply higher as market participants looked past widespread social unrest and pandemic worries to focus instead on easing lockdown restrictions and signs of economic recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.05 per cent higher, whereas the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices rose 0.82 per cent and 0.59 per cent respectively.
The World Bank said on Tuesday that it expects the coronavirus and resulting recessions to leave "lasting scars" on developing and emerging market countries, with the worst damage on oil exporters and those suffering financial crises.
