Sensex zooms 446 points; Nifty settles above 13,050-mark for first time ever – Times of India

EW DELHI: Equity indices continued to surge on Tuesday with the benchmark BSE sensex rising nearly 450 points led by gains in banking stocks amid positive global cues.
After touching a lifetime intra-day high of 44,602, the 30-share BSE index surged 446 points or 1.01 per cent to close at 44,523; while, the broader NSE Nifty cracked the key 13,000 psychological level for first time ever to settle 129 points or 1 per cent higher at 13,055.
Axis Bank, M&M, HDFC Bank, ITC, SBI and ICICI Bank were the top gainers in the sensex pack with their shares rising as much as 4.02 per cent.
While HDFC, Titan, Nestle India, Bharti Airtel and ONGC were the major losers falling up to 1.47 per cent.
On the NSE platform, sub-indices Nifty Bank, Private Bank, Auto and Financial Services gaining as much as 2.46 per cent.
According to experts, signs of progress on Covid-19 vaccine spurred hopes for a faster economic recovery.
On the vaccine front, AstraZeneca’s encouraging interim results for its Covid-19 shot were followed on Monday by manufacturer Serum Institute’s announcement that it would focus first on supplies to India, raising hopes that the vaccine could become available quickly in the world’s second worst-hit country.
“There are still worries of a second wave of the virus, especially in a country like India, where the second wave has just started in a few cities,” Siddharth Khemka, head of research for retail at Motilal Oswal told news agency Reuters.
“A vaccine allays that fear. The expectation is that things will normalise faster,” he added.
Other Asian markets were also higher as US President-elect Joe Biden was given the go-ahead to begin his White House transition.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors remained net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 4,738.44 crore on Monday, according to provisional exchange data.
(With agency inputs)