Sensex jumps over 400 points ahead of LIC listing; RIL, Tata Steel top gainers 

It's a big day for the investors on Dalal Street as shares of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) are all set to make their market debut today.

Equity benchmark Sensex opened 242 points higher at 53,216 and Nifty jumped over 70 points to 15,912 ahead of the country's largest insurer listing.

Tata Steel was the top gainer on Sensex, advancing over 3 per cent, followed by Reliance Industries, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel.

On the other hand, Asian Paints and Sun Pharma were among the top losers.

"Retail investors who have to receive the allotment can hold list for short term to medium term, we expect LIC to do in near future as LIC will be trading at P/EV (embedded value) of 1.1x at an upper price band of Rs 949 which is at a significant discount to other listed private life insurance companies like HDFC Life, ICICI Pru Life, and SBI Life," Yash Gupta- Equity Research Analyst, Angel One Ltd told Business Today.

"LIC IPO initially may see some selling pressure as all the retail investors have received the allotment. Looking at the cheap valuations of LIC as compared to other listed players offers comfort and investors with a longer time horizon can hold or buy more," he added.

The public offer of the insurer got subscribed nearly 3 times on the final day of the offer on May 9, led by the robust response from policyholders, employees and retail investors. The company had fixed a price band of Rs 902-949 per share.

On Monday, the benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended their six-day losing run on Monday on the back of buying in banking, auto and power stocks amid mixed trends in global equities.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rebounded by 180.22 points or 0.34 per cent to settle at 52,973.84 points in a see-saw trade. The broader NSE Nifty went up by 60.15 points or 0.38 per cent to finish at 15,842.30, logging its first gain in seven sessions.

Sensex and Nifty tanked over 5 per cent in the previous six sessions due to heavy selling by FPIs over inflation concerns.