Solid December quarter results, so far, and positive global cues fulled an across-the-board buying in the equity markets on Tuesday. Bulls recovered nearly all the losses incurred over the past two days and settled around 2 per cent higher today.
In the intra-day trade, the S&P BSE Sensex zoomed 936 points to hit a high of 49,500 levels. The index pared gains marginally and closed with gains of 834 points, or 1.7 per cent, at 49,398 levels. Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, HDFC, ICICI Bank, and L&T jumped between 3 per cent and 7 per cent on the BSE today, and were the top gainers on the Sensex. That apart, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, and TCS, all up in the range of 1.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent, remained other top index contributors.
Among these, Bajaj twin surged up to 9% at the bourses todayon expectations of strong Q3 results. According to brokerage Narnolia, Bajaj Finance's NII growth is expected to contract by 10 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in the December quarter on the account of lower AUM growth as the firm focussed more on collections rather than growth.
On the NSE, the Nifty50 reclaimed the 14,500-mark in the intra-day trade to hit a high of 14,546. The 50-share index, however, closed at 14,521 levels, up 240 points or 1.68 per cent. 46 of the 50 constituents ended the day in the green.
In the broader market, mid-cap peers outperformed the large-caps, with the S&P BSE MidCap index settling 2.3 per cent higher at 18,953. The SmallCap index, on the other hand, closed at 18,634.97, up 1.6 per cent higher.
Two stocks, Lupin and India Cements, ended 2.5 per cent and 4 per cent higher on the BSE after Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and Radhakishan Damai increased their respective stakes in the companies. While Jhunjhunwala hiked stake from 1.5% to 1.6%, Radhakishan Damani increased it by 0.5% to 11.34%.
Among key sectoral indices, Nifty Financial Services index ended 2.4 per cent higher at 15,614.
That apart, Nifty Realty index surged up to 4.8 per cent on the NSE, hitting an intra-day high of 341, which was close to its 52-week high level of 346.50. Among individual stocks, Indiabulls Real Estate zoomed 13 per cent to Rs 87.90; DLF hit a 52-week high of Rs 296 after rallying 7 per cent in intra-day trade; Godrej Properties, Prestige Estate Projects, Sobha, Oberoi Realty and Brigade Enterprises were up in the range of 3 per cent to 4 per cent.
On the earnings front, tyre manufacturer Ceat posted a net profit of Rs 132 crore for the December quarter, while revenue came in at Rs 2,221 crore.
In the primary market, the 3-day initial public offer of IRFC was fully subscribed by 4 pm on day 2.
Global cues
European shares rose on Tuesday after Asian markets rallied on optimism about China's economy, while upbeat earnings reports from miner Rio Tinto and computer peripherals maker Logitech boosted sentiment.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index gained 0.4 per cent, while Germany's DAX and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.4 per cent and London's blue-chip index rose 0.7 per cent.
Asian stocks closed in on all-time highs as investors wagered China's economic strength would help underpin growth in the region after data confirmed the world's second-largest economy was one of the few to grow over 2020.
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