Sensex, Nifty Gain For Second Straight Session Led By IT, Pharma Stocks

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes rose for second straight session on Monday led by gains in information technology, pharma and metal stocks. The benchmarks staged a gap up opening wherein the Sensex rose as much as 389 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 12,969. However, due to weakness in banking stocks the benchmarks erased intraday gains briefly. However, buying in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys helped benchmarks recover and close higher.

The Sensex advanced 195 points to close at 44,077 and Nifty 50 index rose 67 points to settle at 12,926.

The session was marked with high volatility as the India VIX, the gauge of expected volatility spiked 6.2 per cent as investors' feared about government imposing lockdowns again to curb the spread of Covid-19 which has been spreading at a faster pace in cities like Delhi, analysts said.

Seven of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty IT index's nearly 3 per cent gain. Pharma, metal and energy indexes also rose between 1.2-2.7 per cent each.

On the other hand, banking and financial services shares witnessed selling pressure.

Mid- and small-cap shares outperformed their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 1.4 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index climbed 2 per cent.

ONGC was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose nearly 7 per cent to close at Rs 76. IndusInd Bank surged 4 per cent to close at Rs 842 after the Reserve Bank of India's working group recommended that large industrial houses be allowed to be bank promoters, meaning they can take significant stakes, something the central bank has strongly objected to in the past.

GAIL India, Dr Reddy's Labs, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Reliance Industries, Bharat Petroleum, TCS and HCL Technologies also rose between 2.5-4 per cent.

On the flipside, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, SBI Life, Titan, State Bank of India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and Larsen & Toubro were among the laggards.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,683 shares ended higher while 1,149 closed lower on the BSE.