Markets maintain momentum for second straight day; bank stocks rally

The Sensex and Nifty defied gravity for the second straight session on Tuesday following brisk buying in market heavyweight Reliance Industries as well as banking and finance counters.

Shrugging off the Covid-19 crisis, the 30-share BSE Sensex opened in the green and gained further momentum during the session. It finally finished at 48,944.14, up 557.63 points or 1.15 per cent. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty surged 168.05 points or 1.16 per cent to end at 14,653.05.

L&T topped the Sensex gainers' chart, climbing 3.33 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries, IndusInd Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank and Bharti Airtel.

On the other hand, Maruti Suzuki was the biggest loser, shedding 1.24 per cent, after the country's largest carmaker reported a 6.14 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,241.1 crore for the March quarter.

NTPC, Kotak Bank, Nestle India, M&M, Dr Reddy’s and Axis Bank were the other laggards, shedding up to 0.54 per cent.

Persistent strength in US markets has rubbed off on Indian stocks, with dip in treasury yields ahead of FOMC decision also helping the overall risk appetite, said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Banks have been quite upbeat lately and extended gains by over 1 per cent post noon, but it was metals that shone with over 2.5 per cent gains.

“However, with April derivative expiry approaching, and with Nifty option premiums not pricing much above 14,700 for now, caution is recommended,” he added.

Binod Modi, Head - Strategy at Reliance Securities, said: “In our view, short covering ahead of F&O expiry is also supporting market rally in this week. Notably, lower than expected March quarter performance led to selling pressure in Maruti and HDFC Life. However, huge buying was seen in midcap and smallcap stocks today.” All sectoral indices ended in the positive terrain, with BSE metal, basic materials, capital goods, industrials, energy and consumer durables indices surging up to 2.83 per cent.

Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices rallied as much as 1.49 per cent.

India reported more than 3-lakh coronavirus cases for the sixth consecutive day.

The total tally of COVID-19 cases has climbed to 1,76,36,307, while the national recovery rate has further dropped to 82.54 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The death toll mounted to 1,97,894 with 2,771 new fatalities.

Global markets were mixed ahead of the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul ended on a negative note, while Shanghai finished with gains.

Stock exchanges in Europe were also trading with losses in mid-session deals.

With Nasdaq and S&P 500 at record highs, the global support to markets is strong. The FOMC meeting starting later in the day will be keenly watched by markets for clues on probable trends in rates and yields, experts said.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.51 per cent higher at USD 65.36 per barrel.

Rising for the second day, the rupee appreciated by 7 paise to close at 74.66 against the US dollar.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,111.89 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.