Sensex Rallies Over 250 Points; Financial Stocks Lead Gains

Stock Market Updates (August 24, 2021): Sensex Rallies Over 250 Points; Financial Stocks Lead Gains

The benchmark indices are trading firm on Tuesday afternoon, in line with the global bourses, due to buying interest in financial shares. Asian markets are trading in the green across the board, with the exception of Jakarta, and the European markets have also opened on a cheerful note as investors worldwide seem to be celebrating the full approval granted to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and easing worries of an imminent tapering of stimulus by Federal Reserve. At 1:5 pm, the BSE Sensex was trading at 55,796.50, higher by 244.91 points or 0.44 per cent and NSE Nifty was at 16,568.60, up 73 points or 0.44 per cent.

The broader markets are outperforming their largecap peers, with the BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices gaining more than 1 per cent each.

On the IPO front, Aptus Value Housing Finance made a weak debut on the bourses. The shares opened for trading at Rs 329.95 on the BSE, a discount of 6.53 per cent vis-a-vis the issue price of Rs 353. And Chemplast Sanmar also made a lackluster debut, listing at a 3 per cent discount at Rs 525 on the BSE compared to the issue price of Rs 541 per share.

Financial stocks are witnessing buying interest in today's session. Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, SBI, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank have gained 1-8 per cent each to top the gainer's list on the BSE. Tata Steel and Tech Mahindra are the other significant gainers in the Sensex pack.

On the other hand, Nestle, Asian Paints and HDFC have shed around a per cent each on the BSE. Select information technology stocks are also seeing profit-booking post their recent gains; Infosys, TCS and HCL Tech have lost upto 1 per cent each on the BSE.

The overall market breadth is positive, as 1,848 shares have advanced on the BSE compared to 1,237 declining shares.