Sensex, Nifty Settle Near Nine-Month Highs On Broad-Based Buying Interest

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes closed at their highest levels since February 14 on Thursday on the back of a broad-based buying interest. The benchmarks staged a gap up opening taking cues from strong session of equities in the US. Wall Street breathed a sigh of relief on Wednesday, as the latest US election tallies pointed to a divided government that made the prospect of tax hikes advocated by Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden unlikely. The Sensex rose as much as 755 points and Nifty 50 index moved above its important psychological level of 12,100.

The Sensex ended 724 points or 1.78 per centy higher at 41,340 and Nifty 50 index climbed 212 points or 1.78 per cent to close at 12,120.

"Trump or Biden, it will not be a big difference for Indian markets... since both the US parties are bullish on India," Kochi-based Geojit Financial Services' head of research, Vinod Nair, told NDTV. The US is the fifth largest investor in India, according to the government's National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency.

A big stimulus is expected in the US after the election regardless of who wins, he added. "That will be very positive for world economy and emerging markets... India will garner good FIIs (foreign institutional investor) inflows."

All the 19 sector gauges compiled by the BSE, barring the index of real estate shares, ended higher led by the S&P BSE Metal index's over 4 per cent surge. Oil & gas, utilities, banking, capital goods, energy and basic materials indexes also rose between 2-3 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares also witnessed buying interest as S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap indices also rose nearly 2 per cent each.

Forty eight out of 50 shares in the Nifty 50 basket closed higher led by the IndusInd Bank's 6.2 per cent gain. Hindalco, State Bank of India, Bharat Petroleum, Tata Steel, GAIL India, Coal India, Bajaj Finance, UPL and Bajaj Finserv also rose between 4-6 per cent.

On the flipside, Hero MotoCorp and HDFC Life were among the notable losers.

The overall market breadth was extremely positive as 1,735 shares closed higher while 914 closed lower on the BSE.