The market capitalisation of BSE-listed stocks stood at Rs. 218.14 lakh crore at the end of the session, as against Rs. 215.6 lakh crore the previous day.
The risk appetite improved dramatically on Dalal Street this week as declining daily Covid-19 cases and hopes of a faster rollout of vaccinations made investors more confident on corporate earnings growth in the remainder of the current financial year.
Both benchmark indices clocked gains of nearly 2 per cent each during the session, inching closer to their all-time highs. The S&P BSE Sensex index surged 975.62 points or 1.97 per cent to end at 50,540.48 and the broader NSE Nifty 50 benchmark climbed to 15,175.30, up 269.25 points or 1.81 per cent from its previous close.
The usual jitteriness among investors ahead of the weekend was missing. On recent Fridays, investors chose to book profit in order to avoid being exposed by Covid-19-related bad news over the weekend. Fear gauge India VIX index fell 3 per cent.
The gains came even as Jefferies’ Christopher Wood reduced India’s weight in his portfolio by 200 basis points despite admiring the stock market’s resilience to the health tragedy that has gripped the country over the past two months. “Amazingly, India has outperformed so far this quarter,” Wood said in his latest GREED & fear report.
The rally was single handedly led by shares of financial services, which received a much needed fillip from the blockbuster March quarter earnings of . The lender’s record quarterly profits and improved asset quality eased investors concerns over the health of the country’s banking system.
The turn in sentiment caused by SBI’s earnings triggered an aggressive covering of short positions in the Nifty Bank’s May futures contract by traders, dealers said.
SBI surged 4.3 per cent, helping the Nifty Financial Services index end 3.2 per cent higher at 16,339.85. Housing Development Finance Corp, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank rose 2.9-4.5 per cent.
Besides banks and financial services companies, shares of IT companies also contributed to the market’s strength, with the Nifty IT index rising 0.8 per cent. All sectoral indices on NSE ended higher for the day.
In the broader market, gains were smaller compared to their largecap peers. The Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices rose 0.9 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively. The breadth of the market, however, was strong as advances outnumbered declines on the NSE.
