Sensex gains 2,100 points: Top stocks which led the rally today

Sensex and Nifty continued to rally for the second consecutive session today as global markets bounced back on a $2 trillion stimulus for the US economy. Sensex which was trading volatile in early morning trade on the back of rising coronavirus cases in India changed gear in afternoon session. The benchmark index logged a 2,116 point rally to 28,790  compared to the previous close of 26,674. However, the index saw some profit-booking and closed 1861 points or 7% higher at Rs 28,535. Nifty gained 575 points intra day to 8,376 compared to the previous close of 7,801. The index closed 516 points or 6.62% higher at 8,317.

The huge rally in Sensex was powered by Reliance Industries which surged up to 22.51% to Rs 1,152 amid reports Facebook was reportedly planning to buy a multi-billion dollar stake in Reliance Jio. The stock pared some gains and closed 14.65% higher at Rs 1,081.25 on BSE.

RIL share price gains nearly 10% amid report Facebook likely to buy stake in Reliance Jio

Other gainers of today's rally were Kotak Bank (12.94%), HDFC Bank (9.41%), Maruti Suzuki (12.23%), HDFC (9.44%), HDFC Bank (11.77%), Titan (8.24%) Larsen and Toubro (8.22%) and  Axis Bank  (7.83%) on Sensex. Of 30 Sensex stocks, 26 ended in the green.

On Nifty, RIL ( 13.84%), HDFC Bank (12.41%), UPL (11.43%), Kotak Bank (11.89%) and Maruti (10.56%) were the top gainers. Of 50 Nifty stocks, 38 closed in the green.

Market breadth was positive with 1213 stocks closing higher compared to 989 stocks ending lower on BSE. Total 14 stocks hit 52-week highs against 736 touching 52-week lows on BSE.

149 shares hit their upper circuits against 373 falling to their lower circuits in Wednesday's trade.

BSE midcap and small cap indices gained 348 points and 252 points, respectively. BSE large cap index was the top gainer rising 6.24% or 189 points to  3,180 compared to the previous close of 2,993.

Among sectors, banking stocks led the recovery with BSE bankex rising 1,691 points to 21,321.Consumer durables stocks too powered the rally with the BSE index gaining 1,059 points to 18,720.

All 19 BSE sectoral indices closed in the green.

Bank Nifty too rose 8.03% or 1,373 points to 18,481 compared to the previous close of 17,107.

Global markets

The gains in domestic indices were fuelled by a massive rebound in global stock markets.

Overnight, US stocks surged with Dow rising 11.37% to 20,704.91 with S&P 500 index climbing 9.4% to 2,447.33. The Nasdaq composite jumped 8.1%, to 7,417.86. US stocks rebounded after Congress  and the White House reached a deal to inject nearly $2 trillion of aid into the economy hit by coronavirus.

The gains in US markets spilled onto other markets today.

Japan's Nikkei 225 surged 8%. Tokyo logged its biggest daily gain since 2008.

Hang Seng rose 3.8% to 23,527.19. South Korea's Kospi gained 5.9% to 1,704.76 and the S&P/ASX 200 gained 5.5% to 4,998.10. The Shanghai Composite index rose 2.2% to 2,781.59. Taiwan's benchmark jumped 3.8%. Shares were also higher in Southeast Asia.

By Aseem Thapliyal