Sensex, Nifty Snap Two-Day Losing Streak On Strong Global Cues

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes snapped their two-day losing streak on Tuesday led by gains in Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, HDFC, State Bank of India and Maruti Suzuki. The Sensex rose as much as 465 points to hit an intraday high of 41,444 and the NSE Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 12,172. The sentiment among investors was boosted after Asian share markets followed Wall Street higher on Tuesday as the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed at record highs on Monday as Chinese workers and factories slowly returned to business following a Lunar New Year holiday that was protracted by the deadly coronavirus outbreak.

The Sensex ended 237 points or 0.6 per cent higher at 41,216 and the NSE Nifty 50 index rose 76 points or 0.6 per cent to close at 12,108.

Worries over the coronavirus kept market participants on edge, with the death toll rising to 908 and the World Health Organization (WHO) warning that new cases outside of China could be "the spark that becomes a bigger fire."

Seventeen of 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE ended higher led by the S&P BSE Utilities index's 1.7 per cent gain. S&P BSE Power, Metal and Bankex indexes also rose between 0.8-1.5 per cent each.

On the other hand, S&P BSE FMCG index fell 0.25 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares ended mixed as the S&P BSE MidCap index rose 0.35 per cent while the S&P BSE SmallCap index declined 0.2 per cent.

GAIL India was top gainer in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock rose 6 per cent to Rs 129 after its profit rose 18 per cent sequentially to Rs 1,251 crore.

JSW Steel, Bharti Infratel, NTPC, Maruti Suzuki, State Bank of India, Hindalco, Power Grid, Adani Ports and Bajaj Auto were also among the gainers.

On the flipside, Yes Bank, Bharat Petroleum, Bharti Airtel, Mahindra & Mahindra Britannia Industries and Nestle India were among the losers.

The overall market breadth was marginally negative as 1,379 shares ended lower while 1,126 closed higher on the BSE.