Sensex Rises To Over 2-Month High, Reliance Industries Surges Nearly 4%

Sensex and Nifty moved higher today, led by gains in the financials and pharma stocks. Market heavyweight Reliance Industries, which closed 3.7 per cent higher, also supported the gains. Higher global stocks also boosted domestic markets. The Sensex ended 166 points higher at 34,616, while the Nifty settled at 10,614, up 30 points, their highest closing levels registered in over two months. Financial stocks rose today, with Yes Bank and ICICI Bank among top percentage gainers among Nifty50 stocks. Yes Bank climbed around 3 per cent while ICICI Bank gained 1.7 per cent.

Pharma stocks Lupin Ltd and Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd rose 1 per cent and 0.7 per cent.

Metal stocks fell sharply today. Aluminium producer Hindalco Industries slumped over 7 per cent on lower global prices. "Metal stocks have corrected as a short-term reaction to global developments," said Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research at Motilal Oswal Securities. "It clearly looks like some profit-booking in IT. Interest culminating to price performance can be seen in pharma."

Aluminium prices continued to fall after Washington gave US customers of Russian producer United Company Rusal more time to close out their business with the company and comply with sanctions. The sanctions on Rusal had driven prices of the metal to their highest since mid-2011 recently on fears that the global market could face shortages.

Among other metal stocks, Vedanta fell over 2 per cent while Tata Steel declined over 1 per cent.

The Nifty IT index, which gained 12 per cent this month up to Monday's close, fell 2 per cent. HCL Tech, Wipro, Infosys and Tech Mahindra fell around 2-3 per cent each.