Sensex zooms 790 points to close at 49,734; Nifty settles above 14,850

NEW DELHI: Equity indices continued to surge for the third straight session on Wednesday helped by gains in banking and auto stocks. The benchmark BSE sensex jumped 790 points or 1.61 per cent to close at 49,734; while the broader NSE Nifty moved 212 points or 1.44 per cent higher to settle at 14,865.
Top gainers in the BSE pack included Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI with their stocks rising as much as 7.73 per cent.
On the NSE platform, except for Nifty Metal, Pharma and Realty, all other sub-indices finished in green with Nifty Bank outperforming the index by gaining as much as 3.02 per cent.
In the previous session, sensex had settled 558 points or 1.15 per cent higher at 48,944, and Nifty surged 168 points or 1.16 per cent to close at 14,653.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,454.75 crore on Tuesday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 1,463.44 crore, according to provisional exchange data.
According to V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, there are some consistent trends in the market now.
"One, despite the bad news on the Covid front, the market has been maintaining the upside momentum. Two, FIIs have been consistent sellers (above Rs 10,000 crore in April, so far) and DIIs have been consistent buyers. These trends are likely to continue in the short run and markets are likely to remain strong," he told news agency PTI.
Coronavirus: Live updates
It appears that markets are looking into the post-second wave scenario which is likely to emerge in May, he noted, adding that global support to markets continues with positive economic data from the US. The FOMC comment expected later in the day is likely to reaffirm the US Fed's accommodative stance, imparting further resilience to markets.
"Over the last two (to) three days, and especially over the weekend, there have been some positives such as ... the US allowing supply of Covid-19 materials and resources to India, and a fall in the number of active cases, especially in worst-hit states like Maharashtra," Gaurav Garg, head of research at CapitalVia Global Research in Indore, told Reuters.
Meanwhile, India touched another grim milestone as the overall deaths in the pandemic crossed the 2-lakh mark on Wednesday. Over 3.6 lakh new cases were reported in the last 24 hours in yet another single-day record.
(With inputs from agencies)