Sensex Ends 553 Points Higher As Markets Extend Rally To Fifth Straight Day
Domestic stock markets extended a rally to a fifth straight day on Friday, tracking three-month highs in Asian equities in anticipation that a divided US legislature would limit major policy changes and keep the status quo on economic policies. The S&P BSE Sensex index soared 614.77 points - or 1.49 per cent - to touch 41,954.93 at the strongest level during the session, and the broader NSE Nifty 50 benchmark rose to as high as 12,280.40, adding 160.1 points - or 1.32 per cent - to its previous close. Gains in banking, financial services and energy shares boosted the markets, however losses in IT and pharmaceutical stocks limited the upside.
The Sensex ended 552.90 points - or 1.34 per cent - higher at 41,893.06, and the Nifty settled at 12,263.55, up 143.25 points - or 1.18 per cent - from its previous close. Both indices turned positive for the year so far.
Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank, closing between 2.31 per cent and 3.59 per cent higher, were the top gainers in the Nifty basket of 50 shares. On the other hand, Maruti Suzuki, GAIL, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints and Grasim, down 1.37-2.85 per cent each, were the worst hit among 21 laggards in the index.
Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, HDFC and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the biggest contributors to the gain in Sensex.
Reliance Industries shares jumped as much as 4.34 per cent to Rs 2,040 apiece on the BSE before settling at Rs 2,029, a day after the billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate said Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) will invest Rs 9,555 crore in its subsidiary, Reliance Retail Ventures.
"With this investment, a lot of worries pertaining to the Future deal will wane since there is confidence that Reliance can secure investments despite issues with the Future deal" said Saurabh Jain, assistant vice president at SMC Global Securities.
Meanwhile, shares in other Asian markets hovered near three-month highs, as investors expect Democrat Joe Biden to beat President Donald Trump, and the Republicans to retain control of the Senate, allowing them to block the Democrats' agenda, such as corporate tax hikes and massive borrowing for large spending.
