NEW DELHI: Equity indices on Wednesday hit fresh record intraday highs in a highly volatile trade. The benchmark BSE sensex jumped over 550 points to scale an all-time peak of 50,361 in late morning deals; while the broader NSE Nifty traded above the 14,800-mark.
Top gainers in the BSE pack included IndusInd Bank, Dr Reddy's, Mahindra and Mahindra, PowerGrid, Sun Pharma and Tech Mahindra with their stocks rising as much as 7.61 per cent.
On the NSE platform, all the sub-indices were trading in green with Nifty Pharma up as much as 2.83 per cent.
Drugmaker Dr Reddy's Laboratories surged over 5 per cent after a report said India is expected to grant emergency use authorization for Russia's Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine soon.
Dr Reddy's has a partnership with the Russian Direct Investment Fund that covers clinical trials of the vaccine and distribution rights for India.
"The risk-on is back in the market with massive FII inflows. There is huge delivery-based buying in HDFC twins, Tata Motors, RIL, ICICI Bank and many other bluechips," V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services told news agency PTI.
Vijayakumar further noted that the growth-oriented bold budget, with emphasis on privatisation, has facilitated this return of risk-on in the market with the Nifty spiking by 7 per cent in two days.
"The fundamental support to the market comes from the surprisingly good results from companies. If the present steadily declining Covid incidence trends continue, the economy will bounce back sharply, supporting the rally," he noted.
In the previous session, the 30-share BSE index had ended 1,197 points higher at 49,798; and the Nifty advanced 367 points to close the session at 14,648.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 6,181.56 crore on Tuesday, as per exchange data.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai were trading with losses, while Tokyo was in the green.
Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.42 per cent higher at $57.70 per barrel.
(With inputs from PTI)