Sensex, Nifty Hold On To Over 5-Month Highs
Domestic stock markets extended gains to a third straight session on Wednesday tracking strength across Asian equities. The S&P BSE Sensex index gained as much as 0.68 per cent - or 260.19 points - to touch the 38,788.51 mark during the session, and the broader NSE Nifty 50 benchmark climbed to as high as 11,460.35, up 0.66 per cent (75 points) from its previous close. Gains in banking, financial services and energy shares supported the markets.
The Sensex ended 86.47 points - or 0.22 per cent - higher at 38,614.79 - its highest since March 3. The Nifty settled at 11,408.40, up 23.05 points - or 0.20 per cent - from its previous close - its highest since February 27.
Zee Entertainment, GAIL, Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and Maruti Suzuki, closing between 1.54 per cent and 14.06 per cent higher, jumped the most among the 28 gainers in the 50-scrip index.
Zee Entertainment Enterprises closed up 13.14 per cent a day after it named a new chairman.
On the other hand, Bajaj Auto, ONGC, Nestle, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Britannia, ending between 0.98 per cent and 1.20 per cent lower, were the top Nifty losers.
HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries were the top boosts to the Sensex.
Heavyweight Reliance Industries ended with a gain of 0.68 per cent at Rs 2,133.20, after the conglomerate announced the purchase of a majority stake in e-pharma portal Netmeds.
Meanwhile, the total number of coronavirus cases in India stood at 2.77 million as of Wednesday morning, and deaths at 52,889.
Asian markets largely moved lower amid concerns about the US-China relations. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan declined 0.43 per cent, but Japan's Nikkei 225 benchmark rose 0.26 per cent.
European share markets started Wednesday's session on a positive note, with the United Kingdom's FTSE benchmark index last seen trading 0.17 per cent higher in early trade. France's CAC and Germany's DAX indices were up 0.31 per cent and 0.38 per cent at the time respectively.
